L.A. Plans Program of Road, Rail Projects : Transportation: City was passed over in state competition. Key element of local plan is maglev line from LAX to Palmdale.

Spurned by the state in a recent competition to select privately built transportation projects, Los Angeles city and county officials Wednesday announced their own program under which firms will be invited to build toll highways and rail projects on public land.

The program, which might require approval by the Legislature, is patterned after one launched last month by Caltrans under which four toll roads were chosen for state approval from eight projects submitted by private bidders.

To the dismay of Los Angeles officials, the state transportation agency passed over the only Los Angeles County entry--a $1.3-billion magnetic levitation rail line from Los Angeles International Airport to Palmdale.

Local transit officials said they hoped that the consortium which proposed the futuristic train--which would be built on pillars in the right of way of the San Diego, Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways--also will enter the project in the county’s privatization program.

Another project that officials expect to see proposed by private firms is an elevated monorail along the Ventura Freeway in the San Fernando Valley.

“Those are the most likely two,” said Nick Patsaouras, president of the Rapid Transit District board of directors, “but we want projects from throughout the county. We want to see what the private sector comes up with.”

Although the county privatization program has not yet been discussed by the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which would administer it, Neil Peterson, commission executive director, predicted “very strong--probably unanimous--support.”

Inviting private firms to build transportation projects on public land is an idea that has caught on quickly among California officials searching for ways to meet the demand for traffic relief with scarce public funds.

And support comes from all points on the political spectrum.

The program was endorsed Wednesday by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Ed Edelman, the RTD’s Patsaouras and Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee.

“Our transportation needs are greater than the public resources available to address them,” said Edelman, a longtime supporter of massive public works projects, such as the Metro Rail subway.

An unresolved question is whether state legislation is required before Caltrans can allow private transportation projects to use freeway land.

Jerry Baxter, Caltrans Southern California district director, said he thinks it is “if we’re talking about shops and restaurants and things like that.”

“I can’t imagine why we would not support such legislation if it’s a project that improves transportation. That’s what we’re here for,” he said.

The financial calculations underlying all projects submitted in the Caltrans competition include user tolls or fares, as well as rents to be paid by commercial enterprises built at stations or off-ramps.

The maglev line was proposed by a consortium formed by Massachusets-based Perini Corp., the Los Angeles engineering firm of Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall and the HSST Corp. of Japan.

The 31-mile-long first phase of the line would end in Santa Clarita and would carry an estimated 55,000 passengers daily, most of them commuters. The trains, traveling at up to 125 m.p.h., would stop at the Marina Freeway, Wilshire and Victory boulevards and the Simi Valley Freeway.

County rail planners say that after being extended 38 more miles to Palmdale Airport--owned by the city of Los Angeles--the line would attract airport-bound passengers as well as those headed to and from Las Vegas, who could connect at Palmdale to a proposed high-speed maglev line connecting Las Vegas to Southern California.