Council OKs Study of Metro Rail Elevated Lines

The Los Angeles City Council gave the go-ahead Wednesday for transit officials to study routes for the proposed Metro Rail subway that include the use of elevated tracks along the heavily traveled Wilshire Corridor.

But the fierce opposition of Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents part of the San Fernando Valley where the planned multibillion-dollar subway would run, killed a suggestion that the Southern California Rapid Transit District consider a similar aerial route in North Hollywood.

Wachs warned that even discussing the possibility of elevating that section would jeopardize the fragile political coalition behind Metro Rail, and he persuaded his council colleagues to oppose any study of an aerial route down Lankershim Boulevard.

Alternative Alignments

That proposal was part of the latest suggested change in routing Metro Rail as RTD officials wrestled with alternative alignments to avoid an area of potential methane gas pockets in the Westside.

The new version would elevate the system’s tracks above the street level along portions of Wilshire Boulevard, Vermont Avenue and either Hollywood or Sunset boulevards. Council members agreed that a study should be made but they balked at backing the study of an elevated route in the San Fernando Valley when Wachs complained.

Although the RTD is not prevented from pursuing an aerial route in the San Fernando Valley, RTD General Manager John Dyer said the council votes will make it difficult for a new study to be undertaken.

“There’s no point in getting the city and the RTD to a total confrontation over studying (such a) line,” he said.

Dyer said that district directors are expected to discuss the Metro Rail alternatives today and that he will recommend that the RTD abandon the aerial idea in the San Fernando Valley.

Methane Gas Blast in 1985

The new routes were proposed after an explosion at a Fairfax clothing store in 1985 was blamed on underground methane gas. Each of the suggested routes forms a “wishbone” around potential gas pockets. The first three routes, unveiled earlier by the the RTD, relied on underground construction. The latest proposal, dubbed “Alignment J,” takes the system above ground.

The “J Route” would rise from its subway tunnel on Wilshire Boulevard just west of Western Avenue. It would become elevated and run north along Vermont Avenue, turn west on Hollywood or Sunset, then go into the hillside just west of Vine Street. Under the original proposal, the line would be elevated again in the San Fernando Valley in the vicinity of Lankershim and the Hollywood Freeway and would remain aerial for another mile-and-a-half.