Restudy Urged of Wilshire as Red Line Route : Transit: Original proposal was scrapped after 1985 methane gas explosion. But replacement plan has developed its own problems.

Mayor Richard Riordan and Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude are urging the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to study the Wilshire corridor as a possible route for the western extension of the Red Line.

In a letter dated Feb. 6, the two city officials asked Franklin E. White, chief executive officer of the MTA, to study the Wilshire corridor in addition to a more southerly alignment currently under consideration.

“(The Wilshire) line would serve the critical areas of employment and the Los Angeles County museums and connect to the valuable resources of our magnificent beaches, UCLA, Century City, Westwood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica,” the letter reads.

Although the Wilshire corridor originally was favored by most transit experts and city officials as the Red Line route to the Westside, the MTA abruptly altered its plans in 1985 after a methane gas explosion in the Fairfax District demolished a clothing store and injured 21 people.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) held public hearings on the explosion and the high level of methane gas in the area. He successfully lobbied to prohibit tunneling along Wilshire, forcing the MTA to reroute the Red Line. The agency chose to veer the line off Wilshire Boulevard at Western Avenue and run it southwest to Pico Boulevard and San Vicente.

Councilman Braude says he is not convinced that the MTA should have abandoned its plans for Wilshire.

“The risk (of other explosions) was never great,” Braude said. “I have spoken to the engineers who have been studying it . . . and they assure me that (the risks) are exaggerated.”

MTA critics say the Wilshire route has much to recommend it. They point to studies showing it would attract more riders than any other route on the Westside, improving the city’s air quality by prompting fewer residents to drive.

The critics also point out that the Pico-San Vicente route, which the MTA has estimated will cost more than $490 million, is embroiled in its own gas controversy: The transportation agency has discovered hydrogen sulfide in the area.

“Our issue is that this magnitude of a transportation decision for Los Angeles can’t be made in a vacuum without analysis of a Wilshire subway alternative,” said James McCormick of the Coalition for Rapid Transit. “The decision that’s made should be made with the full knowledge of the environmental impacts and benefits of Wilshire.”

MTA officials said last week they were unprepared to comment on whether the letter from the mayor and Braude will prompt them to give the Wilshire line a second look.

Waxman, for his part, said he is willing to reconsider the Wilshire route, said Phil Schiliro, Waxman’s administrative assistant. The congressman has learned that new technology might enable the MTA to dig without causing a methane gas explosion, Schiliro said.

“He has suggested looking at the levels of gases (along Wilshire) and how we could tunnel through them,” he said. “We haven’t heard back from the MTA on it.”

Schiliro added, however, that the congressman still has doubts about whether such tunneling along Wilshire can be done safely--and will be skeptical of studies showing that it can.

MTA spokesman Steve Chesser said transportation officials are aware that Waxman is once again interested in studying the Wilshire corridor. But, Chesser said, the congressman also wants to study the feasibility of the plans for Los Angeles’ entire transit system.