Trolley’s Planners Steer Clear of Victory

Chandler and Burbank boulevards should be studied further as possible routes for a Valley light rail line, but Victory Boulevard should be dropped from consideration, according to Los Angeles County Transportation Commission staff.

In a memo and report mailed Friday to members of the commission’s rail transit committee, staff members said the Victory route would entail huge extra costs to avoid conflicts between the proposed trolley cars and motor-vehicle traffic.

To put a trolley line on Victory Boulevard without constricting traffic flow, five miles of the street would have to be widened an average of 30 feet, the report said. If not widened, the five-mile segment would have to be built on elevated structures, the report continued, saying of Victory Boulevard, “In staff’s opinion, the alternative is too costly and disruptive to warrant further analysis.”

Weighing the Options

The commission staff also recommended that consideration of a trolley loop through the Warner Center area be dropped, but that three other alternatives on the western end of the line be studied further.

The rail transit committee is scheduled to vote Friday on which routes merit more detailed cost and engineering studies, and which should be thrown out.

The panel’s decision will require endorsement by the full commission, which could take up the issue at its April 9 meeting, officials said Friday. The detailed studies could be completed before fall, officials said.

The proposed light rail line would extend 14.3 miles from Canoga Park to the planned terminus of the Metro Rail subway at Lankershim and Chandler boulevards in North Hollywood.

The proposal calls for the trolley to operate mostly on Southern Pacific tracks, which the commission hopes to acquire from the railroad. But a departure from these tracks is being considered at the western end to serve Warner Center, and in the eastern end because of strong neighborhood opposition.

The existing Southern Pacific tracks run down the middle of Chandler. The neighborhood’s large Orthodox Jewish community has established several academies and synagogues near the lightly used railroad tracks, and some have expressed fear that the trolley would disrupt worship and classes and would endanger people walking to services.

Orthodox Jews are not allowed to ride in cars on the Sabbath, and many moved into the area to be within walking distance of services.

Other homeowners in the neighborhood have also objected to Chandler’s use.

Backers of a Chandler route say it would involve less cost and disruption than installing rails on Burbank or Victory.

Surprise Voiced

Larry J. Blumenstein, vice president of the Shaarey Zedek synagogue on Chandler, said Friday he “would have been absolutely stunned” by a staff recommendation to discard the Chandler alternative. But he said he was surprised that the staff recommended that Victory be thrown out.

Planning is “at such a preliminary stage,” Blumenstein said, “I think it would be wrong of them to rule out any option.”

According to the staff report, the Warner Center loop--down Victory to Topanga Canyon Boulevard to Oxnard Street to Owensmouth Avenue and back to Victory--is an “unacceptable” alternative because it would make traffic congestion worse at several intersections.

The staff recommended, however, that three other options--ending the line near Victory and Topanga Canyon, running a single track at grade level down Owensmouth, and running two aerial tracks down Owensmouth--get further study.

The Valley trolley would be part of a proposed countywide rail transit network to be financed by the half-cent transportation sales tax that voters approved in 1980.

Competition for Funds

The County Transportation Commission, which administers sales tax proceeds, has already committed funds to help build the troubled Metro Rail project, a light rail line under construction from Long Beach to Los Angeles and one that will follow the Century Freeway.

The Valley line would compete for remaining funds with two other lines--one proposed for the South Bay and the other to link East Los Angeles with Pasadena.

Commission officials say that, if the Valley line is the next to be built, it could be completed between 1993 and 1995.

According to an estimate by the Southern California Assn. of Governments, the Valley line would carry about 50,000 passengers a day if it were connected with Metro Rail or another rail link to downtown Los Angeles.