Site Search Narrows : Trolley Study Favors Victory, Rail Routes

Two possible trolley routes across the San Fernando Valley got good marks Friday, whereas several others were downgraded in a preliminary report on proposed east-west routes.

Routes whose fortunes rose in the preliminary study were the Southern Pacific mainline and Victory Boulevard.

Sherman Way, the Los Angeles River Flood Control Channel, Ventura Freeway and Ventura Boulevard were downgraded as possible routes because planners found trolley lines there would be expensive to build and disrupt many businesses and residents. The chances of a seventh potential route are considered all but dead.

A key committee of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission is scheduled to pare down the seven alternatives after a public hearing in downtown Los Angeles on Jan. 23.

For nearly four years, the commission staff has been studying possible routes for a light-rail line across the Valley.

In November, the staff formally endorsed a 14.3-mile route that would follow the Southern Pacific’s little-used freight line from the intersection of Chandler and Lankershim boulevards in North Hollywood to the intersection of Topanga Canyon and Victory boulevards at the Canoga Park-Woodland Hills border.

But the staff’s recommendation set off a storm of protest from North Hollywood residents who said the line would pass too close to homes, causing excessive noise and vibration.

The commission responded by directing the staff to suggest and evaluate alternate routes. The report released Friday was the result.

Once the alternate routes have been whittled down, the commission is scheduled to vote to submit several of them to a yearlong environmental study by an outside consultant.

Although the staff-recommended Chandler-Victory route also was discussed in the report released Friday and is expected to be among those in the environmental study, it is considered all but dead because of political opposition.

Mainline Wins Favor

The Southern Pacific mainline, which traverses the Valley diagonally from Burbank Airport to Chatsworth en route to Oregon, recently has been endorsed as a trolley route by several elected officials and by the Eastern Sector Transit Coalition, which represents 17 homeowner and religious groups.

The staff gave that route a boost Friday by finding that only 14% of it passes through residential neighborhoods, where most noise complaints are generated.

By contrast, the Sherman Way route would be 35% residential, Victory Boulevard 45%, and the Chandler-Victory route 48%.

The staff also acknowledged that it might be possible to utilize a recent suggestion of the transit coalition to use the Hollywood Freeway right of way to bypass much of the congestion in downtown North Hollywood. The trolley would be built on the eastern slope alongside the freeway.

When the rail mainline was dropped from consideration by the staff several years ago, the problem of connecting the line with the planned Metro Rail subway station at Chandler and Lankershim boulevards was cited as a major drawback.

Vineland Avenue and Lankershim, the two obvious links, are already heavily congested, the staff found. A street-level trolley along those two thoroughfares would increase congestion and an aerial line would be costly, they said.

Parking Lots

Richard Stanger, the commission’s director of rail development, also said that preliminary study indicated that building large parking lots along the mainline, which passes through major industrial areas where land is available, could increase use of the line.

“Previous ridership projections were based on the assumption that unlimited parking was available at each stop,” he said. “Of course, that seldom happens. We now have the ability to factor in the size of parking areas.”

The staff also found that a trolley along the Victory Boulevard route would attract riders without displacing a significant number of businesses if it were elevated east of Woodley Avenue.

West of Woodley, the line would follow the Southern Pacific freight line at street level to Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

The Sherman Way route was downgraded because it would require a costly tunnel under Van Nuys Airport and would disturb many residents.

The report found that routes along the flood-control channel and the Ventura Freeway would be expensive and would disturb many residents.

An aerial line along Ventura Boulevard would be costly and would disrupt many businesses during its construction, the staff found.