$50 Million Released for Road Repairs : Rebuilding: Infusion of federal funds will allow reconstruction to continue around the clock.

The Clinton Administration released $50 million in emergency earthquake assistance Thursday to keep construction crews working around the clock to clear debris and repair damaged highways in Southern California.

“We don’t want them to stop for a second,” Transportation Secretary Federico Pena told a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing. “We want to provide funding to allow them to continue reconstruction” of the major highway structures damaged in the Jan. 17 quake.

The announcement brings the amount of transportation money provided for emergency repairs to $95 million since the Northridge quake. Under federal law a maximum $100 million in emergency funds is available until Congress approves the Administration’s $6.6-billion aid package for quake victims. The package includes $1.35 billion to repair roads and bridges.

At the hearing, called by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Pena said arrangements were being made to add 25 locomotives and train cars to accommodate commuters riding the Metrolink system.

Pena said he was also working on securing federal waivers to increase the average speed of Metrolink trains from 25 m.p.h. to 30 m.p.h. on the route between Palmdale and Los Angeles.

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Pena emphasized that the long-term plan to rebuild the Los Angeles area’s transportation network must include efforts to persuade as many commuters as possible to park their cars and use mass transit.

Ridership on the Metrolink system has jumped since the quake.

“We are asking the people to reconsider their transportation alternatives,” Pena said. “We have to find a way in this process to ensure that when construction is finished this ridership is maintained.”

Pena estimated that it would take six months to a year to rebuild damaged highways, which he called a vital link in “restoring the flow of commerce from the Pacific Coast to the rest of the nation.”

Earlier in the day, the Senate Public Works Committee passed on a voice vote Boxer’s proposal that would make highway bridges eligible for federal funds to cover earthquake retrofitting.

Under current law, a freeway structure must be damaged before it is eligible for federal funds.

Although the proposal would not set aside any federal money to retrofit California freeways, Boxer called it a necessary first step.

Boxer said she and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are optimistic that California House Republicans will not delay an effort to quickly pass the $6.6-billion aid package by insisting that the spending be offset by budget cuts.

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Both California senators were assured by Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) that Congress does not regard the earthquake as a California problem.

“This is a problem we have to face as a nation. We have to get ready. There will be more earthquakes,” he said.

Next week the Senate will assess relief operations by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development at a committee hearing called by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.).