Transit Panel Approves Report on Proposed Light Rail Line
A Los Angeles County transportation panel approved an environmental report Wednesday for a proposed light rail line connecting Burbank, Glendale and downtown Los Angeles.
The 11.9-mile line, which would begin at the Burbank Airport and run south through Glendale to Union Station, is one of six rail projects competing for funding priority under the county’s 30-year Integrated Transportation Plan.
The new Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which will be formed Monday by uniting the County Transportation Commission and the Southern California Rapid Transit District, is expected to decide in March whether to give the project priority over the other rail projects.
If the $445-million line is chosen, it could be built before the end of the century. The line would use existing railroad tracks and would have 10 stops.
The unanimous decision by the Transportation Commission is not an endorsement of the line but an indication that the report adequately addressed all the environmental issues associated with the line.
One of the most significant “unavoidable adverse impacts” identified previously on the line was the need to remove the old City Jail building near the Los Angeles River, south of the Pasadena Freeway. But the final environmental study offers an alternative design to run the line around the jail and avoid removing the building.
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