Millions in Funding Sought to Relieve Impact of Rail Project : Transportation: Alameda Corridor is expected to boost the flow of goods through the valley. Officials want bridges built over freight tracks to keep commuter traffic flowing.

San Gabriel Valley officials are pressing for millions of dollars to stave off the expected impact of a mammoth Los Angeles rail project that threatens to leave commuters in frustrating standstills even though the trains would never enter the valley.

Among other things, valley officials are asking the county’s transit agency to build dozens of automobile bridges over the freight tracks. The logic is to keep drivers and emergency vehicles on busy north-south streets moving as the locomotives lumber by.

The $1.8-billion Alameda Corridor, which is still at least six years from completion, is designed to create a high-speed 20-mile rail link that whisks freight traffic between Downtown Los Angeles and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Boosters say the pathway, which is expected to break ground next year, is a public-works linchpin needed to keep pace with a tripling of goods expected to flow through the twin ports in the next 25 years.

To handle that growth, the corridor will combine three railroad lines into one and eliminate nearly 200 road crossings that force commuters to idle while trains pass.

Although the corridor would not extend into the San Gabriel Valley, an increase in rail traffic is expected because of transportation of goods to or from the Inland Empire and western states.

“Everyone is talking about how important the Alameda Corridor is, but it doesn’t stop magically at the city of Los Angeles line,” said John Fasana, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member and Duarte councilman. “We’ll have a lot of congestion.”

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The corridor is being built by a special government authority and receives funding from public and private sources, including the MTA.

Freight traffic is expected to swell 50%, to about 120 daily trains, in the valley during the next 15 years, according to one study. Next month, officials are hoping the Southern California Assn. of Government will fund a larger study outlining what steps the valley can take to shield itself from the transit and pollution impacts.

Michael Paules, city manager for San Gabriel, said drivers in his municipality find themselves constantly sitting in traffic because of the locomotives that cross major arteries such as Del Mar Avenue and Mission Drive. Last year, he said, police responding to an assault were delayed five minutes because a train had stopped on the tracks. The officer had to drive into neighboring Alhambra to get to the scene.

While the victim was not badly hurt, Paules said the incident served as a harbinger for police, fire and ambulance services working around bustling railroad tracks. He also wondered how goods will be shipped more quickly if only part of the system is modernized.

“It’s like building a superfreeway north and south, but when you go east you go on a rickety, two-lane road,” Paules said. “How much do you really gain?”

Southern Pacific, Santa Fe and Union Pacific each own lines that run east-west. Two roughly parallel the Foothill (210) and Pomona (60) freeways. The tracks have long been used to connect the western states and the Inland Empire with the ports.

San Dimas Mayor Terry Dipple, president of the valley’s Council of Governments, a conglomeration of 25 cities working on regional issues, said officials are asking the MTA to construct bridges that would be finished by the time the corridor debuts. They also want the three railroad lines that cross through the area to be consolidated into a single main route.

But those upgrades are pricey--a single bridge can cost $5 million to $20 million--and unlikely to be ready when the Alameda project opens.

“It’s not peanuts,” said Dipple, who figured his city would need four bridges. “But we don’t want to wait 10 years for the improvements. This could have a tremendous impact on the valley.”

The MTA expects to have $150 million available for bridges and other specialty street work around the county during the next 10 years.