Quake Upgrade May Start in Year : Seismic: Funds for bolstering city buildings, bridges in L.A. will come from $376-million bond issue approved by voters.

Repair work on City Hall and other city buildings and bridges could begin within a year as a result of Tuesday’s passage of Proposition G, a $376-million bond issue to upgrade aging municipal structures to meet earthquake standards, Los Angeles city officials said Friday.

The ballot measure, which required a two-thirds majority for passage, won with 72% of the votes cast.

Almost one-third of the money--about $112 million--will be earmarked to repair the historic 27-story City Hall. Also on the priority list of projects are 136 multispan bridges, including several built in the 1920s that link downtown with the Eastside.

A total of 459 city-owned bridges are scheduled for repairs.

“The measure will allow the city to make necessary repairs for the movement of emergency vehicles during and after a major earthquake,” said City Councilman Richard Alatorre, the proposition’s author and chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee.

He added that the measure will also allow strengthening of buildings vital to maintaining public order, such as police and fire stations and those frequently used by the general public. In the last category, he said, are the Anderson Memorial Senior Recreation Center in San Pedro and the outdoor 6,200-seat Greek Theater in the Hollywood Hills, where the stage needs strengthening.

Also considered of particular importance are the 11 historic structures--including the Avila Abode, the city’s oldest building--at Olvera Street, the aging Mexican marketplace north of the Civic Center. About $16 million has been set aside for seismic work there.

The city would be “exposed to a great deal of liability” at Olvera Street if there is a substantial loss of life due to an earthquake since as many as 2 million people visit the tourist spot each year, Alatorre said.

Deputy City Engineer Rodney Haraga said the repair work authorized by the proposition on 84 buildings and 459 bridges should be completed in five to seven years.

He added that the design work on City Hall, completed in 1928, has not begun.

According to city officials, it is an ambitious program to update the building that was the tallest structure in Los Angeles until a 13-story height limit was removed in 1958.

The City Hall repair work includes bracing its aging floors and towers, strengthening unreinforced interior walls, repairing outdoor tilings and adding more stairwells.

Alatorre and others at a City Hall news conference said it was unlikely that repair work would close any of the structures. But they added that some bridges might be closed if repair work was required on top of the bridge decks.

BRIDGES NEEDING REPAIR: THE TOP 10 Here are the top 10 city - owned bridges that are badly in need of repair out of a total 459.

BRIDGES YEAR BUILT STRENGTHENING COST 1. 4th Street Viaduct over L.A. River 1930 $9.3 million between Mission Road and Santa Fe Avenue. 2. 6th Street Viaduct over L.A. River 1932 $8.2 million and Santa Ana Freeway. 3. Olympic Boulevard Bridge over 1925 $5.7 million L.A. River between Rio Vista and Santa Fe avenues. 4. Anaheim Street Viaduct over 1926 $5.3 million Dominguez Channel between Sigsbee and Preble avenues. 5. 1st Street Viaduct over L.A. River 1929 $5.4 million 6. 7th Street Viaduct over Mission 1927 $3.9 million Road and L.A. River between Rio Street and Santa Fe Avenue. 7. Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct over 1929 $4.3 million Riverside Drive, L.A. River and Golden State Freeway. 8. Macy Street Viaduct over L.A. 1926 $4.6 million River between Mission Road and Lyon Street between Mission Road and Vignes Street. 9. North Broadway Viaduct over 1909 $3 million L.A. River and Baker Street between Pasadena Avenue and Casanova Street. 10. Grand Avenue Bridge from 2nd 1975 $5.2 million Place to 4th Street.