Action on Federal Funding for Trolley Extension Is Expected

A major procedural step forward for the San Diego Trolley will be taken within a week by federal transportation authorities, U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) has been told.

The move will allow San Diego trolley officials to schedule the required public hearing on their proposal for an East Line extension and draw up a plan for possible approval of federal financing by July.

Ralph Stanley, head of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, told Wilson late Wednesday that the agency has accepted the trolley’s draft environmental impact statement for review, the senator said. The statement is required by UMTA before it will make any decision on whether to grant San Diego a requested $40 million to complete the East Line between downtown San Diego and El Cajon. Now that UMTA will review the document, local officials can hold final hearings and present UMTA with a final statement for a mid-summer decision.

The environmental statement includes the San Diego trolley board’s analysis of alternatives to the rail proposal, in particular a series of freeway bus proposals, to determine if an all-bus system would be cheaper and carry more riders.

The figures developed by the Metropolitan Transit Development Board indicate that the trolley, using a complicated formula designed by UMTA, would be slightly more cost-effective than an express bus route.

Preparation of the statement has been enmeshed in controversy because San Diego officials argued unsuccessfully that an environmental analysis they drew up for the first line to Tijuana--built with state money--should be sufficient.

Stanley and other UMTA officials were unavailable for comment. The Reagan Administration reportedly will recommend that no new capital funds be included in UMTA’s new budget. UMTA officials have refused interviews until after the budget is submitted to Congress next week.

Privately, officials familiar with the trolley said that UMTA’s decision Wednesday is key to triggering the final half-year process leading to a decision. But they cautioned that it is still unclear whether UMTA will rank San Diego high on its list of potential projects to be financed. Assuming Congress votes capital funding for transit proposals, San Diego would be competing with other projects whose estimated costs total more than $1.5 billion for perhaps $400 million in federal money.

“To that extent, given the hostile environment that transit funding finds itself in now, the UMTA acceptance of the report is significant,” one official said.

Wilson said he expects Congress will retain the UMTA construction program in some form, especially since the money comes from the gasoline tax and not general revenue.

“I’m confident that San Diego will prove that it merits funding,” Wilson said, noting that the line to Tijuana covers 80% of its operating costs from fares.

Congress has appropriated $11 million for East Line construction, contingent on UMTA approval of the project. That approval could not come before July.

The first 4 1/2 miles of the East Line, to Euclid Avenue, is being built with state money. The federal money would be required to finish an additional 12.8 miles to El Cajon.