Wilson Moves to Fund Alameda Corridor : Transportation: Governor will seek $80 million for project. Brown accuses him of waiting until an election year to act.

The Wilson Administration is moving to finance the first phase of construction on the Alameda Corridor, a mammoth rail project expected to produce thousands of jobs for Los Angeles.

Mark Watts, undersecretary for the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, said the Administration will seek California Transportation Commission approval in early October for the expenditure of $80 million in bond funds for the construction of five major overpasses along the 20-mile route.

The nine-member commission is expected to authorize the expenditure at its November meeting.

Watts said that it was mere coincidence that the decision to move ahead with the construction came only a week after gubernatorial challenger Kathleen Brown vowed to make the Alameda Corridor a centerpiece of her economic plan for California. He said the Wilson Administration, a strong supporter of the project, was planning all along to release the funds as soon as local officials reached agreements with the three railroads that will use the corridor.

Brown has criticized Wilson for waiting too long to ask for funding and for not providing enough leadership on the issue.

The release of the bond funds sets the stage for the initial phase of construction on what has been described by its supporters as the biggest economic development project in the state, one vital to Los Angeles’ economic recovery.

The project, ultimately expected to cost $1.8 billion, would provide a high-speed rail link for freight between Downtown Los Angeles and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Supporters of the project say it is critical to the expansion of the ports, which are expected to triple their exports and imports in the next 25 years.

Currently, it often takes rail freight carried over the same route as long as eight hours to move across the Los Angeles Basin, crawling along at speeds of 5 m.p.h. to 10 m.p.h. as it passes through 34 street crossings.

Plans to transform the route into a high-speed corridor call for eliminating all at-grade crossings and the complete separation of train and automobile traffic. North of the Artesia Freeway, the corridor would be entrenched to cut down on noise and pollution and allow traffic to cross at street level. South of the freeway, overpasses would be built to carry traffic above the corridor.

Gill Hicks, general manager of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, estimated it would take two to three years to complete the first five overpasses at Carson Street, the Pacific Coast Highway, Sepulveda Boulevard, Del Amo Boulevard and Alameda Street near Laurel Park Road.

Hicks said the completion of the first phase would demonstrate that California is capable of undertaking a project of that magnitude and help convince federal officials that they should make a larger investment in the corridor.

So far, the authority has been able to nail down $1.1 billion of the funds it needs for the project and is searching for an additional $700 million to complete the financing.

Aside from the financing, there are numerous other obstacles the authority must overcome before completion, including opposition from adjacent neighborhoods and permits from various government agencies.

But Watts said the first phase is now likely to be completed no matter what happens to the rest of the project. He said the first phase is justified even if it were not part of the overall project because the overpasses will relieve serious traffic congestion at five major crossings.

Although voters approved Proposition 116 in June, 1990, which authorized a $2-billion bond issue and earmarked $80 million of those funds for the corridor, the money could not be spent without authorization from the Transportation Commission.

The decision to seek that authorization not only gives a boost to the project but also helps defuse a political issue for Wilson.

Democrats, and particularly Brown, have argued that Wilson should have provided more leadership on the project and complained that his Administration has waited too long to seek authorization to use the Proposition 116 funds.

“Frankly I think that lack of interest from the Wilson Administration has allowed this project to languish,” said Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar). “If the Wilson folks had signaled early that this was a priority, I think fewer games would have been played.”

John Whitehurst, press secretary for the Brown campaign, said he doubted it was just a coincidence that, right after the Democrat challenger made the project part of her economic strategy, it was listed for discussion on the Transportation Commission agenda.

“It’s typical of Pete Wilson, waiting until the last minute, waiting for an election year to do something about an issue that is so important to revitalizing the economy of the Los Angeles Basin,” he said.

Paul Cranhold, a spokesman for Wilson, accused Brown of not showing any interest in the corridor project until she became a candidate for governor. “We’ve been pushing this for a long, long time. We’ve had a long interest in this project.”

Transportation Commission member Daniel Fessler, a Wilson appointee, said the commission has made it clear that it would not authorize any expenditures until it had assurances there was an acquisition plan for the corridor and an operational plan.

“The governor’s responsibility is not to sit there and write checks just because somebody says there may be some conceivable way to cash them,” he said.

Although no final documents have been signed, the three railroads that will use the corridor have agreed on a plan for its operation including fees that will be paid to use it. The broad terms of an agreement with Southern Pacific Railroad to purchase the corridor right of way for $235 million has been reached, but not yet signed.

Fessler said his concern that the railroad will be paid too much for the property gives him mixed feelings about approving the $80-million bond expenditure. “But, while I am unhappy with those terms, I suspect I will hold my nose and vote for it,” he said.

At least one official--state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica)--was critical of Democrats and Republicans for pushing the project so hard. He said he did not believe there had been enough objective analysis to determine how economically feasible it really is.

“All of the local politicians beat the drums of jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said. “When everybody has a green light for the Alameda Corridor is there no one there with a flashing yellow who will look at the cost benefits?”