Antelope Valley and the 14: the reel pickup lane

The Antelope Valley lane runs up the Antelope Valley Freeway (the 14) from the Newhall Pass through Soledad Canyon to Palmdale and Lancaster. It serves Air Force Plant 42 and the aerospace contractors around it, and the solar farms and utility work spread across the valley floor.

Where the Antelope Valley and the 14 run goes

The 14 leaves the 5 at the Newhall Pass, climbs through Santa Clarita and Soledad Canyon and comes down into the Antelope Valley at Palmdale. US Air Force Plant 42 is the centre of the lane: more than 5,800 acres of airfield and plants used by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Palmdale's industrial land and its contractor yards cluster around it.

North of Palmdale, Lancaster has its own business parks and is the gateway to the valley's solar country. The Antelope Valley Solar Projects total 579 MW on 3,230 acres across the Kern and Los Angeles county line, and AV Solar Ranch One adds 230 MW on about 2,100 acres. Projects like these, and the transmission that serves them, are built from reels of cable.

The Antelope Valley is aerospace and solar country. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale covers more than 5,800 acres where the big defence contractors build and test aircraft, and across the valley floor, utility-scale solar plants, among them the 579 MW Antelope Valley Solar Projects and the 230 MW AV Solar Ranch One, sell power to the coast. Building and maintaining both takes cable in quantity, and most of it arrives on reels of 48 inches and up.

The run sheet, stop by stop

Stop	Area	Grid	ZIP codes	Freeways	Usual flanges
1	Palmdale	E2	93550, 93551, 93552	CA-14, CA-138	24, 36, 48, 72 in
2	Lancaster	E1	93534, 93535, 93536	CA-14, CA-138	36, 48, 60, 72 in

When the deck still has room, the run also takes stops in Santa Clarita (Santa Clarita on the 5 lane).

Where the reels on this lane come from

Aerospace plants and their contractors: Control, data and power cable on 24 to 48 inch reels, emptied steadily.
Solar construction and repowering: Collection and DC cable on 36 to 72 inch reels, left at laydown yards by the hundred during a build.
Utility and transmission work: SCE work across the valley leaves large bolted reels at staging yards.
Contractors in Palmdale and Lancaster: Local electrical contractors stack mixed nailed reels between jobs.

What the stops on this lane put out

Reel sizes along the Antelope Valley and the 14 lane

Flange	Seen at	Empties per 53 ft deck (est.)	Empty weight, lb
24 in	Palmdale	416	23 to 24
36 in	Palmdale, Lancaster	102	64 to 77
48 in	Palmdale, Lancaster	26 to 30	106 to 177
60 in	Lancaster	24 to 28	187 to 347
72 in	Palmdale, Lancaster	20 to 24	204 to 592

Estimates from published reel and loading charts; method on reels per load.

What the driver needs to know on this lane

The 14 leaves the 5 at the Newhall Pass and climbs through Soledad Canyon to the high desert, where Palmdale and Lancaster sit on the open floor of the Antelope Valley. Afternoon wind on the valley floor is the main thing that changes a window here; reels are stood on edge and chocked before straps go on, and loading stops if a gust can move them.

Small stacks ride along

The Antelope Valley is a long way up the 14, so small stacks here wait for a run with a larger stop, usually a solar laydown yard or a contractor clearing out. Book early and tell us the counts; we will put you on the next run up.

How ride-along pickups work · Will my stack fill a deck?

Windows and timing on this lane

The 14 through Soledad Canyon is the only practical way up, and wind on the valley floor can stop flatbed loading. Laydown yards on solar sites need a site contact and directions from the nearest paved road.

Request a pickup on this lane

The other lanes

Questions about the Antelope Valley and the 14 lane

Do you collect solar-farm cable reels?

Yes. Solar laydown yards produce a lot of empty reels at once; a full deck of 48 to 72 inch reels is a run of its own.

Can you get onto Plant 42?

Inside the plant depends on the contractor and the government's rules. Reels staged at contractors' own yards outside are straightforward.

Is Santa Clarita on the way?

Yes. The 14 passes Santa Clarita, so stops there can ride on this run.

Why do solar reels come out in such numbers?

Utility-scale plants are built from thousands of feet of collection cable, all delivered on reels, and the empties pile up in laydown yards until the job is done.

Can a Palmdale stop wait for a solar load?

Often it does. A big laydown yard sets the run date, and smaller stacks in Palmdale and Lancaster ride with it.

Does the 14 close in winter?

Rarely, but wind and the occasional snow on the pass can change a window. We will tell you if it moves.