Davis Transit Plan Details $5.2 Billion in Improvements

Gov. Gray Davis took the wraps off a $5.2-billion state transportation plan on Thursday that includes $2.2 billion for busways, light rail, carpool lanes, inner-city trains and some freeway expansion in Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire.

Using the soon-to-open North Hollywood Metro Rail subway station as a backdrop, the governor pitched his package as one that will spell relief for motorists in the state’s traffic-choked urban areas. “Its purpose is to get California moving again,” he said simply.

Choosing from long wish lists submitted by local and state officials, Davis proposed partial state funding for a light-rail line from Union Station to the Eastside, busways across the San Fernando Valley and along the heavily traveled Wilshire corridor and a busway or light-rail line from USC to the Westside.

Davis proposed using $3 billion from the state budget surplus and asking voters to approve a $2.2-billion bond issue in part to build alternatives to heavy reliance on the automobile.

Los Angeles and Orange County have some of the most heavily traveled freeways in the nation. An estimated 97% of the weekday trips taken in Los Angeles County are by motor vehicles and just 3% by mass transit.

As Democratic lawmakers, local officials, business, labor and environmental group representatives looked on, Davis pointedly drew the connection between an effective transportation system and a strong economy that produces record budget surpluses and job growth.

“But people can’t work if they can’t get to work,” the governor said.

The proposed investments in mass transit, including more new clean-fuel buses for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, expanded Metrolink commuter rail service, and intercity trains to San Diego and Santa Barbara, won immediate support from transit advocates.

The highway component would devote hundreds of millions of dollars to building carpool lanes over the Sepulveda Pass from the Westside to the Valley and for 20 miles on Interstate 5 from the Ventura Freeway to the Antelope Valley Freeway.

But in most cases, the money offered is a only a share of the projects’ expected cost. Davis hopes to use the state money to leverage an additional $10 billion in federal and local funds.

Some allocations are simply down payments on expensive and time-consuming highway projects, such as $125 million pledged to a massive $1.5-billion expansion of the Santa Ana Freeway to 10 lanes from the Artesia Freeway in Orange County to the Long Beach Freeway.

Davis’ plan also offers $245 million for the $1.5-billion Alameda Corridor East project to speed the flow of freight trains from railroad yards east of downtown Los Angeles across the San Gabriel Valley and into San Bernardino County.

Like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle, much has to fall into place before these major projects can become reality.

First, lawmakers have to approve the spending and voters must pass the bonds.

The MTA has to complete environmental impact studies, detailed cost and ridership estimates and designs for the transit projects.

To ensure that at least some of the money is spent soon, Davis is proposing that $1.5 billion be included in the next state budget, with the remaining $1.5 billion from the budget surplus spread out over the following three years.

Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) said the plan is a critical beginning. “This plan is a great first step to turn red lights into green lights and reduce congestion all across this city.”

Just the mere mention of pumping billions of dollars into transportation projects brought Davis kudos from a parade of speakers.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan set the tone: “Mr. Governor, you can make a lot of friends with money like that,” he said.

Riordan, the most powerful member of the MTA, said earlier that the plan offers the opportunity for the transit agency to move quickly to build busways to speed movement across the region.

The Metro Rail subway station in North Hollywood, where Davis, state officials, and MTA board members gathered, is the end of the line for the $4.6-billion Los Angeles subway system. The station is at the eastern end of the 14-mile Burbank-Chandler railroad right of way, which the MTA wants to convert into a busway from Woodland Hills.

In the plan, Davis pledged $245 million in state funds for the San Fernando Valley busway, which is estimated to cost $291 million.

That drew positive responses from a slew of Valley representatives. County Supervisor and MTA board member Zev Yaroslavsky said the Valley may have a high-speed east-west busway that will allow passengers to travel from Woodland Hills to the North Hollywood subway and reach downtown Los Angeles in an hour.

The most expensive of the four MTA projects, estimated at $704 million, is a seven-mile light-rail line from Union Station through Boyle Heights to East Los Angeles. The route would include a 1.7-mile-long tunnel with two underground stations. Only two years ago, MTA halted subway extensions to the Eastside and Mid-City because of the agency’s financial problems.

Eastside representatives hailed the inclusion of $236 million for the line. Los Angeles County Supervisor and MTA board member Gloria Molina said the rail line represents a good compromise, and she praised the plan as containing “a little bit for everyone.”

Molina said the Eastside line could eventually tie into a light-rail line from Union Station to Pasadena, which is underway. That project would receive an additional $40-million injection of state funds to help close a developing budget deficit.

Davis also proposed $256 million in state funds to build a dedicated bus lane on Wilshire Boulevard from Vermont Avenue to the Beverly Hills city limits and a busway or a light-rail line from USC primarily along Exposition Boulevard to the Westside. But the Wilshire proposal has already generated intense opposition because it would remove two traffic lanes on the heavily traveled thoroughfare. The Wilshire busway ultimately could extend through Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles all the way to Santa Monica.

But the governor’s plan was not universally embraced.

In an interview, United Teachers-Los Angeles President Day Higuchi criticized the plan’s use of general fund dollars, which he said should go to education. “The governor’s proposal is 180 degrees from the direction he ought to be going unless we believe our roads and our cars are more important than our children,” Higuchi said.

The plan received a chilly reaction from some Republican lawmakers, including Assemblymen Tom McClintock of Northridge and George Runner of Lancaster.

McClintock objected that Davis’ plan continues to give too much money to costly mass transit and not enough to the highway system.

Only 22% goes to highway projects, even though far more Californians drive than use mass transit. McClintock said he has doubts about whether the Valley busway project will be worth the major public investment required.

The idea of borrowing money through a bond measure when the state has surplus funds was questioned by Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.

Times staff writer Patrick McGreevy contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Davis Transportation Plan

State budget surplus: $3.0 billion*

State bond issue: $2.2 billion**

Total package: $5.2 billion

*

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PROJECTS

MASS TRANSIT

* Wilshire Boulevard busway and Exposition Boulevard busway or light rail

(see map) Project cost estimate: $595 million

Proposed state funding: $256 million

*

* San Fernando Valley busway from North Hollywood to Warner Center

Project cost estimate: $291 million

Proposed state funding: $245 million

*

* Light rail line from Union Station through Boyle Heights to Atlantic Boulevard

Project cost estimate: $704 million

Proposed state funding: $236 million

*

* Purchase of up to 385 clean-fuel buses for MTA

Proposed state funding: $150 million

*

* Additional funding for Los Angeles-to-Pasadena light rail project

Proposed state funding: $40 million

*

RAILROADS

* Alameda Corridor East project to speed movement of trains from rail yards east of downtown Los Angeles through San Gabriel Valley into San Bernardino County.

Project cost estimate: $1.5 billion

Proposed state funding: $245 million

*

* Triple-track Metrolink and Amtrak line from East Los Angeles to Fullerton to reduce delays and conflicts with freight traffic.

Project cost estimate: $176 million

Proposed state funding: $100 million

*

* Additional passenger trains between Los Angeles and San Diego with increased service to Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

Proposed state funding: $30 million

*

CARPOOL LANES

* Northbound carpool lane on San Diego Freeway from Santa Monica Freeway to Ventura Freeway.

Project cost estimate: $336 million

Proposed state funding: $100 million

*

* Carpool lane in both directions on San Bernardino Freeway from Interstate 605 to Orange Freeway.

Project cost estimate: $300 million

Proposed state funding: $100 million

*

* Carpool lane in both directions on Interstate 5 from the Ventura Freeway to the Antelope Valley Freeway.

Project cost estimate: $164 million

Proposed state funding: $50 million

*

* Carpool lane on southbound San Diego Freeway from Waterford Street to Santa Monica Freeway.

Project cost estimate: $74 million

Proposed state funding: $25 million

*

HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENTS

* Initial study of widening the Santa Ana Freeway to 10 lanes between Artesia Freeway in Orange County and the Long Beach Freeway

Project cost estimate: $1.5 billion

Proposed state funding: $125 million

*

* Reconstruction of Carmentia Road interchange on Interstate 5.

Project cost estimate: $87 million

Proposed state funding: $71 million

*

* Conversion of California 71 into eight-lane freeway between Holt Avenue and Mission Boulevard and six-lane freeway from Mission Boulevard to Rio Rancho Road east of Diamond Bar.

Proposed state funding: $35 million

*

* Improvement of northbound San Diego Freeway connector with Ventura Freeway.

Project cost estimate: $62 million

Proposed state funding: $13 million

*

* Must be approved by Legislature

** Must be approved by the voters

Source: Governor’s office