Finally, a Real Start

Congress’ last-minute compromise on funding Los Angeles’ Metro Rail subway finally allocates the federal money needed for the construction of the long-awaited project to begin.

Until just a few hours before Wednesday’s Metro Rail vote on Capitol Hill, critics of the project had threatened to hold back the $429 million contained in a transportation spending bill for the Los Angeles subway unless their concerns over project safety were addressed. The issue was resolved when the most influential congressman raising safety questions, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), agreed to a compromise with Metro Rail’s supporters.

Under the deal, Congress voted to allocate the money that will allow construction to start on the first phase of the subway, 4.4 miles of tunnel between Union Station and Alvarado Street. In exchange, a 10-person technical committee will be appointed by the Los Angeles City Council to reevaluate the hazards posed by methane-gas pockets along the proposed Metro Rail route--particularly along the subway’s second phase, which runs through Waxman’s Westside district along Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. Waxman will be allowed to nominate two members of that independent panel of experts.

Waxman’s last-minute questions about Metro Rail, a project that he had previously supported, arose as a result of a gas explosion last March in a clothing store not far from the proposed subway route. Subsequent investigations showed that the blast occurred after an undetected buildup of methane fumes in the sandy soil beneath the building. While engineers had long been aware of the pockets of gas and oil located underneath that part of town, the explosion raised new fears about the safety of tunneling operations among Fairfax area residents.

Waxman continues to insist that those fears are what prompted him to try to delay the subway, and that his tactics were not part of the effort by Metro Rail critics like Rep. Bobbi Fiedler (R-Northridge) to simply keep the subway from ever being built. His willingness to compromise by accepting an additional study of Metro Rail safety is a sign that his stance was sincere. By the same token, we must point out that Metro Rail has been studied and debated as thoroughly as any construction project in local history, and that safety considerations relating to its construction and operation have already been addressed.

There are always potential dangers associated with a major construction project, whether it is a subway, a high-rise building or a dam. Even if the technical safeguards are perfect, there is always the element of human error to create hazards. The engineers planning Metro Rail have taken potential dangers--not just gas pockets but also earthquakes--into account, and have included as many safeguards as possible in their construction plans. Another study will only serve to confirm that. But if it allows the construction of Metro Rail--the first link in the modern mass-transit system that Los Angeles needs so badly--to proceed unhindered, then another study is worth the trouble.