Apple Valley Corridor Connections: Highway 18 Access Plan

• The Town of Apple Valley wants to create a better-connected Highway 18 throughout Apple Valley.

The Highway 18 Access Plan was approved by Town Council on February 11th. You may view the Council Meeting Video Presentation here at 57:30 minutes.

Presentation to Town Council — January 14, 2025

About the Highway 18 Corridor

The Highway 18 Access Plan corridor (“the Project corridor”) runs along California State Route 18 between Apple Valley Road and Bass Hill Road. This Project includes the highway frontage roads, the sidewalks that run parallel to the highway, and the adjacent roadways and parcels that are accessed from Highway 18.

Project Goals

The goals listed below are the initial guiding principles established by the project team. As community input is incorporated into the overall vision for the corridor, these goals may be refined to better align with the community’s feedback and analysis of existing roadway conditions.

Safety

Enhance safety for all roadway users with an emphasis on supporting non-motorized access along and across Highway 18.

Connectivity

Increase access to healthcare, education, transit, and employment for users of all experience levels.

Community-Based Vision

Develop a strategy incorporating input from the Apple Valley community to promote a reliable and efficient mobility strategy for the Highway 18 corridor.

Sustainability

Create a healthy community that supports a wide range of transportation modes while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Economic Development

Promote business activity along the corridor by making local establishments more accessible to travelers, supporting safe, efficient goods movement and maintaining access to major commercial centers.

Project Schedule

Success Stories

In order to deliver a plan that is both guided by community input and feasible with clear benefits, the Town will build on a blueprint of previous successful planning efforts to inform their approach. Two successful plans that delivered community-supported projects are described below.

Town of Apple Valley Safe Routes to School Master Plan

In 2015, the Town was awarded a Sustainable Communities Planning grant from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to create a Safe Routes to School Master Plan. The intent of the Plan was to identify barriers preventing students at ten K-8 schools in the Apple Valley Unified School District (AVUSD) from walking and biking to school.

Each school shared project information through their social media platforms and the backpack express, resulting in heavy participation at walk audits and nearly a 100% return rate of take-home surveys. The project team also created an interactive mapping tool where stakeholders who were unable to attend in-person meetings could provide feedback.

Based on the data collected and staff observations, the Town was able to successfully obtain Active Transportation Program (ATP) funding of $3.4 million dollars to construct improvements at two schools located in under-resourced communities before the Plan was even complete.

Since the completion of the Safe Routes to School Master Plan, the Town of Apple Valley and AVUSD have completed roughly $10 million worth of Safe Routes to School projects at eight district schools with others currently in the design stage. While the primary focus of the study and these projects has been on providing opportunities for walking and biking to school, they have also had the added benefit of creating better connections for the wider community.

These efforts have and will continue to deliver the following outcomes:

Provide residents with the choice to either walk, bike, and/or take transit to their destination

Improve access to medical services, jobs, schools, shopping centers, and recreational opportunities

Apple Valley Village SR 18 Corridor Enhancement Plan

In 2017, the Town was awarded a second Sustainable Communities Planning grant to study accessibility options in the Apple Valley Village area between Navajo Road and Central Road.

The project team provided four design options that reimagined the segment as a corridor providing diverse transportation options equipped with dedicated bike lanes and sidewalks. The alternatives were presented to the public for input and incorporated into the final Plan.

The study was used to win project funding to close gaps in the sidewalk network along the northerly Outer Highway between Navajo Road and Headquarters Drive. Additionally, the Town was recently awarded $1.7 million to design and construct sidewalks along Powhatan Road between Navajo Road and Central Road.

Lastly, the study was used as a foundation to create the Apple Valley Village Specific Plan which will serve as a guide for future development in the area.

Corridor Conditions

The Project team conducted a data-driven analysis of existing roadway conditions focusing on:

1. The history of traffic collisions along the Project corridor
2. Existing and planned infrastructure
3. Traffic operations of intersections along the Project corridor
4. Future development plans for parcels adjacent to the Project corridor

In addition, the Project team conducted an extensive engagement campaign online and in-person with Apple Valley residents, businesses, local organizations, and other stakeholders. This campaign provided context to the technical analysis and incorporated the experiences of community members into the development of short, mid-, and long-term projects along the corridor.

Note

The images below consist of concepts of recommendations discussed in greater detail in the Final Plan.

Types of Corridor Improvements

The following are roadway improvements recommended along the Highway 18 corridor.

Curb Ramps

Eliminates the vertical edge of an existing curb by providing a safe transition from a roadway to a sidewalk. Accessible to those with physical disabilities and wheelchair users

Typical Bicycle Improvements

Multi-Use Path. Path for cyclists and pedestrians fully separated away from vehicle traffic, with dedicated crossings at roadways. Offers safe, continuous, and comfortable travel

Typical Traffic & Roadway Improvements

Acceleration/Deceleration Lanes Provide linear space for vehicles to accelerate and decelerate while out of the way of general traffic. Particularly useful at intersections where traffic on the main road does not need to stop

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail [email protected].

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