LOS ANGELES : U.S. Transit Chief, Local Officials Discuss Subway
Federal Transit Administrator Gordon J. Linton on Monday met privately with Mayor Richard Riordan and local transit officials to discuss plans for resuming tunneling for Los Angeles’ subway.
“We’re getting closer to some resolution,” Linton said. “But we’re not quite there yet.”
Linton earlier this month ordered that federal funding for the Downtown-to-San Fernando Valley subway be frozen until the Metropolitan Transportation Authority demonstrates that it can competently manage the troubled project. Tunneling in Hollywood has been shut down since Aug. 18 because of ground sinkage of up to nine inches.
Linton, who planned to return to Washington today, described the meetings as productive. He would not predict, however, when federal funding is likely to be restored.
Officials said Linton wanted to make sure that MTA board members fully support the plan drafted by transportation authority chief Franklin E. White for preventing a repeat of the problems that have plagued subway construction. White has proposed, among other things, shifting safety and quality assurance inspectors from a private firm to direct employment by the MTA.
Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Richard Katz, who met with Linton, said the federal transit administrator wanted to make sure that MTA board members “appreciated the gravity of the situation.”
“I reassured him that we want to get this thing resolved,” said MTA chairman and County Supervisor Ed Edelman, who also talked with Linton.
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