L.A. mayor wants subway work sped up

Written by jrood

As workers finished exploratory drilling for the planned Westside subway extension, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other elected officials said they want to speed up construction of the $4.1-billion transit project, which has been scheduled for completion in 2036, according to the Los Angeles Times.

An outspoken advocate for
the so-called Subway to the Sea, the mayor has long been frustrated by the
project’s timetable, and that was evident again when he and other officials
gathered for a news conference in a UCLA parking lot. There, final soil samples
had been drawn for a route that would follow Wilshire Boulevard from downtown
Los Angeles to Westwood.

"I’m 56 now,"
said the mayor, who would be 83 if the extension were completed under the
current schedule. "We are here today to make sure that it gets built
before I’m 66."

Villaraigosa was joined by
Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles Councilmen Bill
Rosendahl and Paul Koretz, Santa Monica Councilwoman Pam O’Connor and Glendale
Councilman Ara Najarian, the chairman of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority Board of Directors.

They urged local
governments to put aside their differences over planned transportation projects
and launch a coordinated effort to secure enough federal stimulus dollars and
matching funds to expedite the subway extension as well as other
much-anticipated projects to be financed by Measure R, the county’s new
transportation sales tax.

Those include the Expo Line
light-rail route from downtown to Santa Monica with a completion date in 2015,
the Gold Line’s Foothill extension to perhaps Azusa by 2017 and a downtown
light-rail line to connect the Blue, Gold and Expo lines by 2025.

"We need a unified
approach to get federal money. We need to bring the MTA board together,"
Najarian said. "If it all comes together, we will be a force to be
reckoned with. We will be able to advance all our projects."

Officials said the subway extension
deserves to be given a priority because it would serve one of the most heavily
populated areas of Los Angeles and help relieve traffic on some of the region’s
busiest streets and highways, such as Wilshire Boulevard and the 10 and 405
freeways. MTA officials predict that the subway will generate 75,000 to 116,000
boardings a day shortly after it opens.

Should the project receive
adequate federal assistance, Villaraigosa predicted that the subway to the
Westside could be finished in 10 years, or about 17 years ahead of the current
timetable.

The MTA is considering
several alignments that would extend the subway from the Wilshire-Western
station to Westwood with additional routes into Santa Monica and West
Hollywood.

The estimated cost of the
line is $4.1 billion if built to Westwood, $6.1 billion if built to Santa
Monica and $9 billion if the project includes routes to West Hollywood and
Santa Monica. Selecting a preferred alignment is set for next year.

Part of the money for the
subway will come from Measure R, which is expected to generate up to $40
billion during the next 30 years.

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