Subway Construction Won’t Disrupt Valley, Officials Say : Transportation: Precautions are being taken to avoid impacting traffic and business. But shop owners elsewhere warn: Beware.

It happened during construction of the first segment of the Metro Red Line subway: Tunneling work snarled traffic in downtown Los Angeles and businesses took a beating as customers stayed away to avoid noise and dust.

A similar scene is being played out on Wilshire Boulevard as construction continues on the second segment of the subway.

Later this year, tunneling will begin on the third subway segment, to Universal City and North Hollywood, and county transportation officials say things will be different this time.

“We hope we’ve learned a lot from segment one and two,” said Judy Schwartze, San Fernando Valley spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Schwartze and other county transportation officials say they are taking precautions at the two Valley station sites--including purchasing additional property adjacent to the sites--to reduce the impact that tunneling and station construction will have on nearby traffic and businesses.

Nonetheless, business leaders in Universal City and North Hollywood say they fear that they will face the same fate as business owners in downtown Los Angeles and on Wilshire Boulevard.

“Certainly we are concerned,” said James Mahfet, executive vice president of the Universal City/North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. “We have reason to be concerned.”

Mahfet and other business leaders attended a meeting with county transportation officials last month to discuss potential construction impacts on businesses in North Hollywood. Another meeting is planned Wednesday to discuss construction on the Universal City station.

Mahfet said he and other owners are worried because they heard about construction problems at the other subway station sites.

“They assured us that it would be different this time, so I guess I have to believe them,” he said.

During construction of the Red Line’s first segment, shop and property owners complained that business was devastated. When construction began on the second segment two years ago, workers lifted the level of Wilshire Boulevard about three feet in places, so that it towered above the sidewalk and in front of shop windows. Machinery and stacks of materials often obscure many shops. Occasionally, Wilshire Boulevard is closed to traffic.

Shop owners on Wilshire have sent a dire warning to businesses along the Red Line route in the Valley: Beware.

“My message to any other community where Metro Rail is coming through is that you’ve got two choices: Leave now or leave later,” said Mike Begakis, owner of the Upstage Cafe on Wilshire Boulevard near Western Avenue. “I don’t know how you can survive and have a viable business.”

Clare DeBriere, development manager for the Wiltern Center, warned Valley businesses to be prepared. “Get things in writing. Don’t believe everything you are told,” she said. “Presume you are going to get a disaster and figure out a solution ahead of time.”

But county transportation officials said construction work on the Valley segment of the line will not have as great an impact on adjacent businesses and traffic.

Work will begin at the North Hollywood station at Lankershim and Chandler boulevards in November or December. It is expected to take about a year to complete the tunnel between the North Hollywood station and the Universal City station at Lankershim across from Universal Studios.

Tunneling work will begin at the Universal City station in January and continue for nearly two years, until workers tunneling south under Mt. Olympus meet up with workers tunneling north from the Hollywood station at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.

Both stations are expected to be in operation by 2001.

To distance nearby business from construction, the transportation authority is in the process of purchasing about 16 1/2 acres of property around the North Hollywood site and about 11 acres and 10 apartment buildings and condominiums around the Universal City site, said John Higgins, utility coordinator for the Rail Construction Corp., the construction arm of the transportation authority.

During construction, both sites will be shielded with walls to reduce dust and noise, he added.

Because the North Hollywood site is near a railroad line owned by the transportation authority, Higgins said it is possible to haul dirt from the tunnel by rail instead of trucking it away on surface streets, thus eliminating street traffic problems.

In addition, Higgins said the Universal City site is only a block from an on-ramp to the Ventura Freeway, allowing trucks hauling dirt and rocks to quickly get on the freeway without adding to surface street traffic.

Lankershim will be dug up and covered with street-level decks near the North Hollywood site, Higgins said, but Lankershim will not be affected at the Universal City site in front of Universal Studios.

“That makes it nice and neat,” he said.

Times staff writer Nora Zamichow contributed to this story.

NEXT STEP

Representatives of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will meet Wednesday with Universal City business and property owners to discuss construction of the planned Universal City Metro Rail station along Lankershim Boulevard near the Ventura Freeway. The meeting will be held at the Texaco office building, 10 Universal City Plaza on the Terrace Level at 7 p.m. Transportation authority officials plan to discuss suggestions for reducing the impact that construction will have on adjacent businesses and street traffic.