Privately Built Valley Rail Line to Be Studied

A private engineering firm has received tentative approval from state and county officials to study the feasibility of building a 60-mph trolley in the median of the Ventura Freeway from Burbank to Woodland Hills at no cost to taxpayers.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Wednesday that the MTA regards the offer by the New York-based firm, Frederic R. Harris Inc., as a serious proposal because it might greatly reduce the cost of a mass transit system across the San Fernando Valley.

A spokesman at the California Department of Transportation, which is responsible for the freeway, confirmed only that agency officials had met with Harris.

A Harris spokesman said the company will conduct a thorough study over the next four months of Valley traffic patterns. If its expectations for revenue and ridership are confirmed, the company could begin work in 1998 on a 19-mile light-rail line from Buena Vista Street to Valley Circle Boulevard and conclude by 2003 at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion, he said.

That would be as much as 20 years sooner and $2 billion less expensive than plans by the MTA to build a subway or light-rail system from North Hollywood to Warner Center along Burbank Boulevard.

It is a twist on an idea that Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich has pushed for years as a member of the MTA board of directors: Bring the $300-million-per-mile Red Line subway out of the ground when it reaches Studio City from Hollywood and run commuters down the median of the freeway at a fraction of the cost of new tunnels.

“It’s time for the private sector to come in and pick up the slack . . . to build public works,” said Joseph P. Lobuono, a Harris vice president.

He said a construction consortium organized by his firm will spend $2 million on the feasibility study. Even if the group decides to go forward, he noted, it could not proceed unless state lawmakers pass a pending bill that would allow Caltrans to enter into a moneymaking partnership with a private company.

County officials appear to be intrigued by the proposal, which would require the Ventura Freeway to be widened by 15 feet on each side and would be financed either by venture capital or corporate bonds.

State law requires the project to be handed over to Caltrans after 25 to 30 years, giving the consortium time to earn back its investment and a profit by collecting fares, Lobuono said.

At the MTA, planning executive Jim de la Loza said board members are committed to obtaining federal approval to fund and build an east- west Valley line, either above or below ground.But he confirmed that MTA chief executive Joseph E. Drew had met with Harris officials, and did not dissuade them from their independent study.