North-South Rail Urged to Ease East-West Congestion

The most sensible way to relieve the congested east-west corridor along the Ventura Freeway is to build a north-south transit system, a citizens’ transportation panel was told this week.

Former Rep. Bobbi Fiedler on Thursday night urged the Citizens Advisory Panel on Transportation Solutions to consider a light rail line from Sylmar to downtown Los Angeles as the best solution to the San Fernando Valley’s worsening traffic problems.

The 32-member panel was created by the Los Angeles City Council after the county Transportation Commission gave up last year trying to select a mass-transit system because of residents’ opposition to all five proposed east-west routes.

Fiedler, representing some East Valley advocates of a north-south route, said that such a route has advantages over the five proposed routes.

“This would do more to alleviate traffic in the east-west corridor than a line in the east-west corridor,” said Ned Einstein, a former Department of Transportation official and transit consultant who laid out the plan for the members.

Einstein said a north-south line would have the greatest impact on neighborhoods around the choked convergence of the San Diego, Golden State and Hollywood freeways. If the logjam there could be broken, traffic jams on the Ventura Freeway would be eased, he said.

Such a line, according to Einstein and Fiedler, would serve communities at both ends of the line--from Pacoima and San Fernando to East Los Angeles--which are growing fast and already are heavily dependent on mass transit.

And “compared to almost any rail proposal I’ve ever seen, this would have the lowest capital costs,” Einstein said.

One panel member pointed out that the north-south line would pass through some of the least populated areas of the Valley. But Einstein argued that the areas are among the fastest-growing.

Others offering proposals Thursday included Baxter Ward, running for his old supervisor’s seat against incumbent Mike Antonovich. Ward suggested two routes--one along the Ventura Freeway and another that would begin in Sylmar and tunnel under Mulholland Drive to Los Angeles International Airport and to several beach communities.