Transit Route Study Halted at Least 1 Month

A study of proposed San Fernando Valley rail routes was halted Wednesday for at least a month amid indications that county transit officials might drop a controversial proposal for a ground-level rail line between North Hollywood and Warner Center.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which had been expected to re-approve the four route options it selected in September, instead voted unanimously to send the question of what type of Valley line to build and where to build it back to its Transit Committee.

The action pleased several elected officials who oppose any ground-level line in residential neighborhoods, but it did little to mollify homeowner representatives who have been fighting to keep any rail line out of their communities.

Study Authorized

In September, the commission authorized a $2.1-million study that included a controversial plan to build a light-rail line in a shallow trench along a Southern Pacific railroad right of way that roughly parallels Chandler and Victory boulevards from the Metro Rail subway’s northern terminus in North Hollywood to Warner Center.

Two other alternatives in the study also follow the Chandler-Victory route. They are extension of Metro Rail underground all the way to Warner Center and a combination of subway and ground-level rail that could either be a heavy-rail Metro Rail system or a light-rail trolley.

The fourth option is extension of the downtown-to-North Hollywood subway on elevated tracks along the Ventura Freeway from Universal City to Warner Center.

Before the commission Wednesday was a letter from the Los Angeles City Council’s chief legislative analyst arguing that the commission’s vote in September misinterpreted the council’s wishes on route options.

To the surprise of commissioners, the commission staff endorsed the legislative analyst’s position on routes that should be studied.

The council wants any line along the Burbank-Chandler route to be completely underground to protect residences along the line, said Daniel Beal, who represented the chief legislative analyst’s office at the session, although the trench could be open on top.

“And the council never asked that the Burbank line be all-subway,” he added. “That would be unrealistically expensive.”

Beal said the council also wants a less expensive light-rail system along the Ventura Freeway to be studied in addition to the Metro Rail extension the commission authorized in September.

While the commission, which is building a countywide network of rail lines, has the final say in route selection, it traditionally defers to council members on lines within city borders.

Julie Fine, who heads a West Valley group fighting to keep any rail line from the segment of the Southern Pacific tracks that parallels Topham Street in Tarzana, applauded the move to drop the ground-level rail option but added that stations serving an underground system “would still bring noise and congestion to our quiet neighborhood.”