Rail Line Plan Speeds Toward Decision After Years of Study

After years of indecision and seemingly endless study, the question of whether a mass transit line should be built in the San Fernando Valley is on the fast track.

Within two weeks, the staff of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission is to release its critically important projection of funds available to build the next rail line.

And on March 28, the commission, which is building a countywide network of rail lines, is to determine if the next line--the fourth and last to be built in this century--should be the Valley plan or one of two proposed light-rail lines: one from downtown to Pasadena, the other a northward extension of the Century Freeway line under construction from El Segundo to Marina del Rey.

If the Valley route is selected, design work and land acquisition will take about five years, Neil Peterson, the commission executive director, said Thursday.

Construction “could begin in 1995 and could be completed in 2001,” the same year that the full downtown-to-North Hollywood Metro Rail subway is to be finished, he said.

On Wednesday, the commission set the stage for a showdown vote in four weeks by voting 8 to 3 to select as the Valley’s preferred route the little-used Southern Pacific railroad right of way that crosses the Valley from North Hollywood to Warner Center, roughly parallel to Chandler and Victory boulevards.

Commissioners also voted to place the line underground, in a subway, in residential areas of North Hollywood and Van Nuys.

The configuration chosen by the commission paves the way for a proposal pushed by a coalition of Valley political, business and homeowner leaders to extend the downtown Metro Rail subway 5.6 miles west to the San Diego Freeway.

From there, express buses would carry passengers to high-employment areas, including Warner Center and the Chatsworth-Northridge industrial area.

The plan, which carries a $1.1-billion price tag and a daily ridership estimate of 41,000, would use all the commission’s available funds during the 1990s, and might also require the sale of bonds to be paid off by sales tax receipts after the turn of the century, said state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana), who led efforts to form the coalition behind the Metro Rail extension plan.

Under the proposal, Valley residents could board a Metro Rail train at Victory Boulevard and the San Diego Freeway and travel all the way downtown without changing trains.

At the 7th and Flower streets’ station downtown, riders would be able to transfer to the Long Beach-Los Angeles light-rail line, which is to open July 16.

The Long Beach line also intersects the Norwalk-to-El Segundo Century Freeway line, which is scheduled for completion in 1994.

In selecting the Chandler-Victory route for the Valley, commissioners halted study of two rival plans for the Valley--a $1.8-billion elevated monorail along the Ventura Freeway from Universal City to Warner Center and a $1.1-billion plan for a light-rail line in a shallow trench along the Chandler-Victory route, from North Hollywood to Warner Center.

Both rival plans that the commission will consider March 28 would cost less than the Valley proposal.

The 13.5-mile downtown-to-Pasadena line would cost about $925 million and would draw up to 68,000 passengers a day, according to a commission study.

The proposed 5.3-mile extension of the Century Freeway line north from El Segundo, past Los Angeles International Airport to Marina del Rey, would cost $329 million and have a daily ridership of 14,000, staff planners say.

A question lingering Thursday was what effect, if any, there would be from the results of a June 5 advisory vote in the Valley on rail options.

The vote was engineered by County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the bulk of the Valley. He had hoped that the results would bolster his nearly single-handed drive for a freeway monorail line.

Dawson Oppenheimer, Antonovich’s press deputy, said Thursday that the supervisor “remains committed to his plan and of course the June 5 vote will go forward.”

Antonovich said previously that any decision the commission makes “can be undone after the voters speak in June.”

Voters will be asked to endorse the Metro Rail extension plan or one of the two plans apparently killed by the commission on Wednesday--Antonovich’s monorail proposal and the plan for a light-rail line on the Chandler-Victory route from North Hollywood to Warner Center.

Voters also will be able to vote for no rail line.

If the Valley line is selected on March 28, purchase of the right of way is not expected to be a problem, commission staff members say.

Southern Pacific announced last year that it wanted to sell the Chandler-Victory right of way, which carries only about one freight train a week.

Last June, the commission authorized the staff to appraise the land as a first step to buying it.