Victorville offers $200 million for inland port freeway

Victorville offers $200 million for inland port freeway The city of Victorville has offered up $200 million for the first phase of a four-lane freeway that will link the Southern California Logistics Airport with Interstate 15.
   The money, approved by city council members last week, will be used to obtain matching funds from the state's Proposition 1B transportation bond fund approved by voters last November.
   Despite the commitment, the funds will not be taken from the city's general revenues, but instead from taxes collected from SCLA tenants like General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, and Newell Rubbermaid. The tax funds are earmarked for redevelopment projects in and around the former air base and cannot be used for more general city expenses. The Victor Valley Economic Development Authority, under which the taxes are collected, is the largest redevelopment area in the state.
   The freeway project, named the High Desert Corridor, seeks to cement SCLA's avowed intention of becoming the region's premier inland port. Located 95 miles from the Southern California ports, SCLA is counting on cargo congestion in the Inland Empire region to the east of Los Angeles to create a growing demand for the facility. The city has been attempting to develop the facility since the closure of the former George Air Base located there in the 1990s. The first phase of the HDC will see the construction of a new four-lane expressway between State Route 18 and I-15, as well as a new six-lane freeway between I-15 and Route 395. When completed, the High Desert Corridor will provide a highway link between the Victor Valley and the Antelope Valley.