The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will receive a $47 million Infrastructure For Rebuilding America grant to relieve the traffic congestion on Interstate 5 in the Santa Clarita Valley, Representative Steve Knight (R-Antelope Valley) announced Tuesday night.

According to the information provided by DOT, Metro will receive funds to construct what’s been dubbed the “Interstate 5 Golden State Chokepoint Relief Program” project to improve the I-5 in Los Angeles County.

The project will use the funds to extend high-occupancy vehicle lanes 13.4 miles from the State Route 14/I-5 interchange in the city of Santa Clarita north to Parker Road in Castaic.

The funds will also pay for a 3.4-mile northbound truck lane between SR-14 and Calgrove Boulevard and a 4.7-mile truck lane between Pico Canyon and SR-14.

The grant will augment Caltrans’ $171 million I-5 Roadway Rehabilitation Project, which began in August 2017.

The $47 million will be dedicated to the HOV and truck lanes and not used for any other part of the project, Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste told SCV News Wednesday. The work will be done between 2019-2021, she said.

“Santa Clarita and the entire region will benefit enormously from this grant which will address the endless traffic backups on Interstate 5,” Knight said in a statement Tuesday night.

“Anyone who lives or travels through the Santa Clarita Valley deals with this congestion on a daily basis,” Knight said. “It impacts every vehicle traveling through or around Santa Clarita and throughout Southern California. This funding is a huge step in providing relief to everyone living and doing business in this region.”

Knight said working with the Department of Transportation and a team of local leaders to secure this grant has been a top priority of his for many months.

“I am so pleased to have spoken with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao (Tuesday) afternoon and to learn that she and the Department of Transportation fully understand and support the need for this project and the relief it will provide for our region as a whole,” Knight said.

Securing this federal grant funding has been a partnership between local leaders including County Supervisor and Metro board member Kathryn Barger, city of Santa Clarita officials and others.

Said Barger in a statement: “I appreciate the strong support of our local partners in the Santa Clarita Valley and the leadership of Rep. Steve Knight and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in securing this important federal grant.”

“This is great day for our Santa Clarita Valley communities and major step forward in our effort to reduce congestion along the Interstate 5 corridor, which will improve traffic safety, air quality and economic vitality across the region,” Barger said.

“The city of Santa Clarita has 47 million reasons to be happy about this,” Weste told SCVNews Wednesday. “This grant is a huge blessing for our city and our valley and the state’s economy. It is an all-around win for everyone.”

Interstate 5 is not just the most important artery through our valley, she said, “It IS the artery. In the transportation of goods up and down California, the worst pinch point is the stretch right here in the Santa Clarita Valley between Highway 14 and Parker Road, where this grant money will go.”

Weste predicts the grant will significantly improve the quality of transit and the flow of goods through the SCV.

“It will make our lives better, help the economy, and make the roads safe so all of our citizens to be able to get in and out of the valley in a much safer way,” she said.

“We’re a 30-year-old city and we’ve been complaining about this issue for at least 20 years,” Weste said. “There’s no way locally we would ever be able to do this. So here’s a huge thank-you to Congressman Knight and Supervisor Barger, who have shepherded this through to the Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chou, and to Metro for putting in the grant request. Without these efforts, the grant wouldn’t have happened.”

“Serving the needs of our community is my top priority in Congress,” Knight said. “I am pleased to have been able to work with the Department of Transportation and our committed LA County and local Santa Clarita leaders to find solutions to the transportation problems we all experience living in this region. This grant is a big step in the right direction of addressing our transit needs in Santa Clarita and throughout Southern California.”

“I am pleased that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has approved a grant of $47 million to improve Interstate 5 between Santa Clarita and Castaic,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield), House Majority Leader, said in a statement.

“This project will help alleviate traffic and improve road conditions for countless motorists in those communities, as well as for Kern County and Lancaster residents traveling to Los Angeles and further south,” he said.

“This I-5 project would not have been possible without the constant support and endless work of Congressman Steve Knight and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, both who tirelessly fought to advance this project,” McCarthy said, “I am proud to count Congressman Knight and Supervisor Barger as colleagues, and I am excited to continue working with them on projects that will improve transportation in Southern California.”