MTA Shake-Up Plan’s Limited Scope Criticized

A proposed reorganization of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s management of Los Angeles subway construction calls for a handful of structural changes--but two key state legislators said Thursday that the plan falls short of what is needed.

Prepared by MTA Chief Executive Officer Franklin E. White and aides, the plan calls for management and engineering changes aimed at preventing a repeat of problems that have plagued the multibillion-dollar project.

White’s plan does not seek to terminate the contract of Shea-Kiewit-Kenny, the builder of the troubled subway tunnels in Hollywood, or MTA-hired consulting firms.

“The most important concern is to get this job done properly and quickly and not act out of anger,” White said in an interview.

Replacing the contractors, he said, would add “substantially” to the cost of completing the work, because it could further delay work on subway stations along the route.

The proposal was sent confidentially this week to the Federal Transit Administration, which on Oct. 5 cut off $1.6 billion of future subway funding because of dissatisfaction with the MTA’s management of construction. The federal agency also has ordered that tunneling remain shut down along Hollywood Boulevard, pending its approval of the construction procedures to be used.

“We remain optimistic that all outstanding issues can be resolved before the end of the month,” White said in a memo received Thursday by MTA board members.

In a related development, the MTA announced late Thursday that Joel J. Sandberg, the agency’s project manager for all subway construction in the Wilshire district and in Hollywood, is being reassigned to the position of deputy project manager for systems and construction service.

Two state legislators, both of whom have jurisdiction over transportation spending, said White’s reorganization proposal lacks the sweep needed to better manage construction and to protect the public interest.

“The FTA did the right thing in cutting off the funding,” said Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Richard Katz, whose legislation created the MTA in 1993. “They ought to be demanding a whole lot more (than what White’s plan proposes). There’s not much change there, really.”

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Katz has urged the state Transportation Commission to withhold its funding for the Los Angeles subway until the MTA demonstrates it can competently manage the project. The state has provided about $250 million.

Katz noted on Thursday that White’s proposal makes no mention of whether he still intends to dissolve the Rail Construction Corp., an MTA subsidiary that has overseen subway construction since mid-1990. Katz will hold a hearing on the subway problems Monday in Los Angeles.

Another legislator who has expressed concern about the MTA’s operations, Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), said White’s reorganization plan lacked the substance that he believes is needed to gain control over what is the most expensive subway construction, per mile, in U.S. history.

“The restructuring appears to be a reshuffling,” said Hayden, who is organizing a Senate Transportation Committee hearing on Nov. 2 regarding the funding and construction of the subway and other MTA policy issues. “It’s inadequate.”

At the request of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, the MTA board has twice postponed votes on White’s earlier request to disband the subsidiary, which has drawn criticism from some officials for being too lenient with contractors.

White, in addition to seeking restoration of federal funding, asked Federal Transit Administrator Gordon J. Linton for approval to resume tunneling along Hollywood Boulevard.

White has said that he thinks tunneling may resume as early as Nov. 7. Excavation in Hollywood has been halted since Aug. 18, when surface sinkages of nine inches were confirmed.

A spokesman for the Federal Transit Administration would not speculate Thursday as to when the agency would permit tunneling to resume.

The spokesman, Pete Halpin, said federal officials have raised “some questions that aren’t addressed by the report” submitted by White.

“In the view of our technical folks, they’re looking for some more information,” Halpin said from Washington.

In Los Angeles, MTA officials met Thursday with staff of the federal agency to review proposed procedures for resumed tunneling. The procedures were prepared by the MTA’s inspection-management firm, Parsons-Dillingham.

The engineers recommended that metal struts--not wooden wedges--be used for tunnel bracing.

Substitution of the wedges was approved in 1992 by Parsons-Dillingham and by the project’s chief design engineer, employed by the firm of Parsons Brinckerhoff. The wedges were crushed under Hollywood Boulevard and engineers have concluded that the failure contributed to the surface sinkages.

The MTA plan also called for three types of soil-stabilizing grouting procedures. The grouting was not performed in the worst-affected area of tunneling.

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Federal Transit Administration and MTA documents obtained by The Times shed further light on the management and construction problems:

* The federal government’s consultant for subway work in Los Angeles said in an Oct. 13 report that the MTA “relented to the contractor’s demands” by reinstating Shea-Kiewit-Kenny’s tunneling superintendent, who had been expelled for safety-related reasons.

The federal consultant, Hill International Inc., questioned the reinstatement of Norm Hutchins and criticized the MTA. “The (MTA) needs to be more forceful with regard to making (Shea-Kiewit-Kenny) reinforce its commitment to safety,” said Hill International.

White said in an interview that Hutchins’ role would be reassessed.

* Shea-Kiewit-Kenny has agreed to appoint E. O. Mixon as new project manager for the work. He declined to comment Thursday.

* According to the reorganization proposal, Shea-Kiewit-Kenny “has agreed to submit a plan for resolving all” problems with installation of wooden wedges used in 12 miles of twin tunnels along Hollywood Boulevard and Vermont Avenue.

Hayden said the federal government should not agree to allow a resumption of tunneling or to unfreeze funding until the MTA approves Shea-Kiewit-Kenny’s plan.

“The incremental improvements should be implemented, and then the money should be turned on,” Hayden said.