Transit Panel Rejects Antonovich Measure

County Supervisor Michael Antonovich tried but failed on Thursday to pass a motion that would preserve existing bids on the east-west rail transit line through the San Fernando Valley, pending the outcome next spring of several studies relating to the project.

Antonovich proposed the motion at a meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and will try to bring it back at the next MTA meeting Oct. 27.

The county supervisor told his fellow MTA members that requesting bidders to extend the terms of their offers for 160 days could shave two years off the process of building a rapid transit system for the Valley by eliminating the need to open a new round of bidding, pending the outcome of the studies and inquiries to the state Legislature.

County Supervisor Ed Edelman and Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who also both sit on the MTA, vigorously opposed the motion. Edelman noted that the main bidder, TransitLA, submitted a “defective” bid because it failed to include a binding cost agreement and because the offer suggested building stations smaller than MTA officials had wanted and closing down two freeway lanes during construction.

TransitLA offered to build the freeway line for as little as $1.17 billion, compared to the $2.24-billion cost estimate by the MTA.