U.S. Officials Release Funds for 2nd Leg of Metro Rail Line

Construction on the second leg of the Metro Rail project, to run from MacArthur Park to Hollywood, could begin by the end of the year now that federal transit officials have agreed to release $667 million in funds Congress authorized two years ago, officials said Monday.

Release of the monies by the federal Urban Mass Transit Administration ends years of sometimes bitter conflict over costs, routes and control of the project.

Neil Peterson, executive director of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, said the announcement represents “a consensus at the local and federal levels on where the Metro Rail line is going next, how it’s being funded and by whom.”

The 6.8-mile leg, costing $1.4 billion, will run from Wilshire Boulevard and Alvarado Street to Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, and is scheduled to open in 1998, Peterson said. It will extend the 4.4-mile Metro Red Line which is under construction downtown and is scheduled to open in late 1993.

An additional Congressional appropriation will be needed for the subway’s third segment, which would go to Universal City and North Hollywood, officials said.

Getting the money for the project’s second leg “has taken a heck of a long time,” Peterson said, adding that Monday’s announcement means that “there is no antagonism between the Administration, Congress and ourselves on whether this is a wise expenditure of scarce funds.”

The funds also mean “that an estimated 260,000 people will be riding the Metro Red Line daily in eight years, alleviating transportation-related smog and easing the stress on our streets and highways,” Mayor Tom Bradley said in a statement issued through the Transportation Commission. “The Metro Red Line is the single largest rail transit project in the country that the federal government is involved in.”

U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) announced release of the funds Monday. The money was authorized in the 1987 highway bill when Congress overrode President Ronald Reagan’s veto. Since half of Metro Rail’s funds come from local sources, Wilson said, the funding agreement “demonstrates the federal government’s recognition of Los Angeles’ contribution and its commitment to sharing in Metro Rail’s completion.”

County Supervisor Ed Edelman, chairman of the Transportation Commission, called the funding agreement “a major step in bringing rail transit back to Los Angeles County. It also brings us another step closer to serving the San Fernando Valley.”

Wilson said UMTA chief Bryan Clymner and Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner will formally sign the funding agreement in Los Angeles on April 10.