CA Highway 126 (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Bakersfield: home, construction, elementary schools)

[robbmed]

Hi. Could anyone provide some insight on Highway 126 (travel conditions/traffic problems during the workweek)? I'm thinking of finding work in Ventura and I live in Valencia. I know it's a long commute, but right now I'm working in Culver City and the working conditions in my current workplace are getting worse everyday. I think this other branch we have in Ventura presents a better opportunity for me. Anyway, I think I could take Hwy 126 almost all the way from Valencia instead of taking the 5 South to the 405 South to 101 North. I'd really appreciate any help. Thanks people.

[puffle]

The longest commute will be the 405 before the 126. It shouldn't be too bad and definetly better than your present drive! I use to take the 126 to Ventura from Bakersfield which took about 1 1/2 hours just to give you some measurement of time.

[SandyCo]

126 is a pretty dangerous highway, unfortunately. You'd have a much more scenic drive, however. I don't know anything about the traffic patterns on the 126. You could take a vacation day from your current job, and test it out. And welcome to City-Data!

[robbmed]

Originally Posted by SandyCo

126 is a pretty dangerous highway, unfortunately. You'd have a much more scenic drive, however. I don't know anything about the traffic patterns on the 126. You could take a vacation day from your current job, and test it out. And welcome to City-Data!

Thanks Puffle and SandyCo. I just might try a test drive on my next off day (I have a 9-8-80 schedule... off every other Friday) to see how it goes. I'll probably drive out at around 7am.

[CAtoCO]

I agree that the 126 is a dangerous strech...have heard about and seen many accidents.... but they have worked on it I believe recently...so it may have improved! Whatever it takes to get out of your current work situation would probably be worth it.....miserable work life makes for a miserable home life!!! Good luck to you!

[UB50]

We've taken the 126 a LOT early in the morning (5 a.m.) It's a 4 lane road and it isn't really dangerous most of the time. The biggest problem is that people drive very fast and don't pay attention when they drive -- that causes a lot of accidents.

The only other problem is THE FOG!! It's that thick pea soup type stuff that you have to drive about 10 mph in. That makes it dangerous. You get fog on days when the temperature hits the dewpoint. The fog will make your trip significantly longer time-wise.

There is another back route taking the 118 to Thousand Oaks and cutting through Somis but that also gets fogged in. The part through Somis is only 2 lanes and traffic goes very very slowly when fog hits. There are also a lot of farm vehicles on that road.

[stoutcruiser]

I travel 126 it is a good hiway just plan on doing the speed limit and you will do fine.

[Winston Smith]

SR 126 used to be one of the deadliest highways in the state. The highway was greatly improved in the late 90s. It's now four-lanes in its entirety (101 to I-5), and also straighter as several sharp curves were eliminated.

The worst traffic area is through the city of Fillmore. You could experience long waits getting through the traffic signals during the a.m. and p.m. drive-times. Otherwise, you should be traveling at or near the speed limit (55 and 60 mph) most of the time.

A NOTE OF CAUTION: Newhall Ranch. If you haven't heard about this yet, take heed. It's a 20,000 home development to be built west from the city of Santa Clarita to the LA/Ventura County line. You can imagine what this will do for traffic on the 126.

BRIGHT SPOTS: I've read that the County of Ventura is trying to get LA County on board to jointly fund express-bus commuter service and commuter rail between Ventura and Valencia. There's nothing happening now, but probably will as development of Newhall Ranch begins. (Ventura County already has express bus service to Fillmore and tracks for commuter rail to the LA County border ready and waiting.)

[vnc155]

126 is not a horrible drive. There is very little traffic in the am hours from Valencia to around Fillmore/Santa Paula. Once you pass those small towns there is a little more traffic. Now when I say traffic, I don't mean stop and go at 20mph. I am talking about a high number of vehicles, but they are still traveling at 65mph or higher.

There are a high rate of car acciedents on 126. More serious accidents betwen Santa Paula and the 5 since there is no center divider. I don't have numbers or percentages in regards to fatalities, but with the number of semi trucks and SUVs that travel that road, driving a little commuter car can be dangerous, especially when the roads are wet(thankfully not very often .)

If you do choose to drive 126 on a regualer basis, be sure to slow down on the curve at the moto-cross track in PIRU - CAL TRANS or whoever designed that curve did a crappy job and it isn't a smooth curve, also watch where the river comes close to the road, another bad turn, especially in the rain. Good luck and drive carefully!!

[TRUTHBTOLD45BODIES]

I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE SAFE TRAVELS, PLEASE REMEMBER MY PEOPLE WHO WERE UPROOTED FROM THEIR FINAL RESTING PLACE ON HWY 126 (2 LANE ADDITION) SO MORE CARS COULD FIT ON THAT STRETCH OF ROAD. I SAY A PRAYER, THESE ANCESTORS WITH DIRECT LINEAL DESCENDENT TO MYSELF. ALL 45 BODIES REMOVED, IS A VERY DIFFICULT AND HARD SITUATION FOR OUR PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN HIGHWAYS CAN EASILY BE RE-DIRECTED/GUIDED/DETOURED, THOUGH IT CAN BE VERY COSTLY, IT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE PAST AND PRESENT, DEVASTATINGLY THE US HIGHWAY OF TRANSPORTATION COULD NOT RE-CONSIDER TO RE-ROUTE ANYTHING AT ALL. PLEASE DON'T LET THEM UPROOT YOUR FAMILY FROM YOUR LOCAL CEMETERY AS THEY DID FOR MY PEOPLE FROM THEIRS....!

**DISHONOR***DISHONOR***DISHONOR***DISHONOR***DISH ONOR***DISHONOR***DISHONOR**





By: Erin Gebroe LOS ANGELES Daily News Staff Writer

They arrived here in ancient time, traveling through the desert basin to build villages in land now marked by roller coasters, tract housing and rows of bustling shopping centers.

They called themselves Tataviam, ``Dwellers of the Sunny Slopes.''

As their former lands are developed, the life of the Santa Clarita Valley's first inhabitants more often is unearthed and disturbed.

``Sometimes in building highways along trails that have been here for thousands of years, we forget all the tragedy that traveled over this road,'' said Chumash/Tataviam descendant Alan Salazar, called upon recently to bless a highway, one where construction workers came across his ancestors' remains.

In fact, two of the Santa Clarita Valley's most recent moves toward modern man's progress - the expansion of Highway 126, officially celebrated Feb. 2, and the sprawling Newhall Ranch development - have drawn ire from some of the remaining Tataviam and Chumash people.

They say Americans continue to dishonor their tribes and ignore their history.

While workers were adding two lanes to Highway 126, they found human remains - the bodies of 45 American Indians buried 2,000 years ago, said Georgie Waugh, an archeologist with the state Department of Transportation.

Tataviam and Chumash descendants at the highway's opening celebration complained that moving the bones was severely traumatic.

Salazar, who blessed the highway in a ceremony organized by the state Department of Transportation, said the bones and artifacts should remind people of how Indians have been controlled and killed throughout American history.

Like Highway 126, the Newhall Ranch project, a 21,600-home community expected to win final approval March 23 from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, reminds the community that Castaic Junction was a central location for the Tataviam, who also lived in regions now known as Agua Dulce, Acton, Piru, Lake Elizabeth, Lake Hughes and Newhall.

Archeologists found artifacts and a burial site in eight different areas within the project boundaries, according to the environmental impact report.

The project, introduced by The Newhall Land and Farming Company, extends from Castaic Junction west to the Ventura County line and from San Martinez Canyon south to the crest of the Santa Susana Mountains.

A letter from California Indian Legal Services pleads with the county to conduct further studies on the cultural significance of the site before development begins.

``Any development over the site would be an insult to the Chumash and Fernandeno communities and a violation of the site's sanctity,'' the letter says. ``The loss of one's heritage, patrimony and ancestral relics is an irreparable harm.''

The Tataviam came to the area in 450 A.D., according to Paul Higgins, who gives presentations on the Tataviam in local elementary schools.

When they arrived, the Chumash were already here. Although the Chumash lived closer to the coast, they met some Tataviam, whom they could not understand because they spoke different languages.

As a result, Higgins said, the Chumash called the Tataviam Alliklik, or ``People Who Do Not Speak Clearly.''

Hunters and gatherers, the Tataviam ate acorns, yucca and seeds as well as deer, rabbits and birds.

``It was really easy for them to survive compared to the plains Indians that had to hunt buffalo,'' Higgins said.

The first known Spaniards came to the area in 1769, led by Don Gaspar de Portola, who was heading to Monterey.

``The (Indian) people met him and took care of him and fed him, but they didn't realize what would happen,'' said Paul Varela,(EX) executive director of the Chumash Interpretive Center in Thousand Oaks.

What would happen is the San Fernando Mission would be built in 1797, and the Indians would be given clothes, baptized and taught to work the fields.

Eventually, the mission grew enough to prompt construction in 1804 of an outpost called San Francisco Xavier, which sat on a bluff overlooking the junction of the Santa Clara River and Castaic Creek. It soon became an asistencia, to serve people who were too far from the San Fernando Mission.

The Asistencia de San Francisco Xavier was the first European settlement in the Castaic Junction area, according to the environmental studies for the Newhall Ranch project. Its buildings, however, no longer exist.

When the Newhall Ranch project is approved, Newhall Land plans to donate the 8-acre asistencia area to the Archaeological Conservancy, a national nonprofit organization that preserves archeological sites.

Once it takes over the property, the conservancy will erect a fence around it and organize a committee of local organizations to help manage the site, said the agency's Lynn Dunbar.

The conservancy will then invite researchers there.

``There's a real need for greater research on church records and other historical records,'' Dunbar said.

Excavation, however, will be avoided.

``The idea is to preserve (sites) until it becomes scientifically compelling to excavate them,'' Dunbar said.

Between 40,000 and 60,000 Chumash lived in the area at the height of the tribe's existence. The number of Tataviam is not known, said(EX Director) Varela of the Chumash Interpretive Center.

Today, he said, numbers have dwindled to about 1,800 Chumash and 300 Tataviam.











I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE SAFE TRAVELS, PLEASE REMEMBER MY PEOPLE WHO WERE UPROOTED FROM THEIR FINAL RESTING PLACE ON HWY 126 (2 LANE ADDITION) SO MORE CARS COULD FIT ON THAT STRETCH OF ROAD. I SAY A PRAYER, THESE ANCESTORS WITH DIRECT LINEAL DESCENDENT TO MYSELF. ALL 45 BODIES REMOVED, IS A VERY DIFFICULT AND HARD SITUATION FOR OUR PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN HIGHWAYS CAN EASILY BE RE-DIRECTED/GUIDED/DETOURED, THOUGH IT CAN BE VERY COSTLY, IT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE PAST AND PRESENT, DEVASTATINGLY THE US HIGHWAY OF TRANSPORTATION COULD NOT RE-CONSIDER TO RE-ROUTE ANYTHING AT ALL. PLEASE DON'T LET THEM UPROOT YOUR FAMILY FROM YOUR LOCAL CEMETERY AS THEY DID FOR MY PEOPLE FROM THEIRS....!

**DISHONOR***DISHONOR***DISHONOR***DISHONOR***DISH ONOR***DISHONOR***DISHONOR**