LA MTA Board backs 30/10 initiative to accelerate transit projects

Written by jrood

A proposal to greatly accelerate construction of a dozen transit projects and expedite highway improvement projects in Los Angeles County was approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors. The 30/10 initiative, first proposed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, would seek federal assistance to build within the next decade a series of light rail, subway and rapid bus projects throughout Los Angeles County. The Board also voted to explore federal funding or public private partnerships to expedite local highway improvements.

The transit and highway
projects will receive local funding spread over the next three decades under
Measure R, a local transportation half-cent sales tax approved by two-thirds of
Los Angeles County voters in November 2008. All the projects are slated for
construction over the next 30 years.

The 30/10 initiative asks
Congress and the Obama Administration to advance funding so the transit
projects could get built much faster and generate hundreds of thousands of
construction and other jobs to help jump start the economy, reduce greenhouse
gas emissions and ease traffic congestion. The funding package could include
existing or new programs to provide low interest financing or loan guarantees.

On a parallel track, the
Board voted to simultaneously begin work to develop a strategy to expedite the
construction of Measure R highway projects, focusing on public-private
partnerships.

Accelerating the Measure
R construction schedule also would let Metro save substantially on costs by
beating inflation for labor and materials and by taking advantage of
competitive construction bids in the depressed industry. Moreover, in recent
testimony before Congress, Mayor Villaraigosa cited other benefits of the 30/10
initiative for transit – an annual reduction of 568,000 pounds of mobile source
pollution emissions, 10.3 million fewer gallons of gasoline used, 77 million
more transit boardings and 208 million fewer vehicle miles traveled annually.

The 30/10 initiative
includes all 12 transit projects approved by voters in Measure R, such as the
Crenshaw Corridor light rail line, rail connections with LAX, a Metro Green
Line extension in the South Bay, an Eastside extension of the Metro Gold Line
from East Los Angeles, extending the subway to Westwood and transit projects
serving the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys.

"This is a win-win for
the Los Angeles region and the nation," said Ara Najarian, Chairman of the LA
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. "If we can leverage our local tax
dollars with federal support, we could put as many as half a million people to
work in the next 10 years while getting more people out of their cars and
cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a model for other help self-help
transportation agencies throughout America."

"Both in Los Angeles and
in Washington, D.C., people are getting on board with 30/10 to build
sustainable transit projects faster, cleaning the air and creating jobs. This
innovative model to advance funds from Measure R won’t break the federal bank
and can be the catalyst to economic recovery in the Los Angeles region," said
Mayor Villaraigosa.

The 30/10 initiative is
gaining traction in Washington. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer have spoken favorably of it. The Mayor, Chairman
Najarian and other transportation agency Board members and Metro CEO Art Leahy
have made repeated trips to the nation’s capital to seek federal support for
Metro’s building program.

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