Burbank Airport Officials Urge Funding for Rail Line : Transportation: They say the $444-million system would help reduce traffic clogs between the facility and downtown L.A.

Burbank Airport authorities Monday urged county transportation planners to give top funding priority to construction of a $444-million light rail line connecting the airport to downtown Los Angeles.

Proponents of the proposed 11.9-mile line say the project is vital to easing traffic congestion by providing a badly needed east-west connection that would give motorists headed for the airport an efficient alternative.

If the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission grants it top funding priority, the line could be constructed before the end of the century, Glendale City Manager David H. Ramsay told a meeting of the Burbank Airport Authority Monday.

Airport authority members pledged to support the project, which has already been backed by a transportation coalition made up of the cities of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena and local businesses and community organizations. The three cities share ownership of the airport.

“It’s super-important to this airport to have that facility in place,” said Robert W. Garcin, the airport authority’s chairman.

Ramsay said the project is one of six light rail lines competing for funding priority under Los Angeles County’s 30-Year Integrated Transportation Plan. Expecting to finance various roadway, bus and rail components, the commission plans to spend about $150 billion on the plan over the next 30 years, much of it from two half-cent sales tax increases approved by voters in 1980 and 1990.

Ramsay said the next two months will be crucial for the Burbank-Glendale-Los Angeles line because the commission will decide the funding priority during that time. Only the two most important projects will be built in this century and the remainder will wait until after the year 2000, he said.

He said the line should have top priority because a draft environmental report on the project has been completed and will be released to the public this week. Only one other project is as far along in the planning process, he said.

“The next few months are really, really crucial,” said Burbank City Manager Bud Ovrom.

Airport Director Thomas E. Greer agreed, saying, “If we don’t take advantage of it now, we may never do it.”

Ovrom said officials from the three cities are lobbying county officials hard to put the project on a fast track. “There has been a tremendous amount of effort placed on this,” he said.

The light rail line would run along existing tracks and have 10 stops, beginning at Hollywood Way near the airport and continuing to Union Station. For most of its length, it would run parallel to the Golden State Freeway. Transportation officials estimate that the line could carry passengers from the airport to Union Station in about 23 minutes.

Ramsay said shuttle buses or some other method could be added to connect the rail stops to such locations as the Glendale Galleria, Griffith Park, the Los Angeles Zoo and the Gene Autry Western Museum.

Glendale Mayor Carl W. Raggio Jr. said the county’s light rail transportation plans had previously excluded an east-west line to serve the three cities. Only their cooperative efforts have gotten the transportation commission to consider the Burbank-Glendale line now, he said. “I happen to think it’s a success story, and I’m happy with it,” he said.