Valley Busway, East L.A. Light Rail Get OK

Construction of a long-anticipated Los Angeles light rail line and busway will move ahead after state officials approved an emergency funding plan Thursday, relieving fears that the projects would be mothballed.

The California Transportation Commission voted unanimously for the $330-million plan, clearing the way for construction of a 14-mile San Fernando Valley busway and a six-mile light rail line serving East Los Angeles and for the purchase of scores of new buses and trains.

MTA officials proposed the financing plan, under which the transit agency will pay for the projects now and be reimbursed by the state later, because the budget crunch in Sacramento has forced massive transit spending cuts.

Responding to the budget problems, Los Angeles County transit officials made the busway, rail line and vehicle purchases their top three priorities. The agency put scores of less costly improvements on the back burner, from street widening in the South Bay to traffic control systems in the San Gabriel Valley.

The MTA’s leadership feared that if state officials turned down the reimbursement plan, they might lose their best proposals to help ease the nation’s worst traffic. They were clearly relieved, even ebullient, after the vote.

“It feels good, that’s for sure,” said Roger Snoble, the MTA’s chief executive, as he walked out of the meeting. “We’ve done something great for Los Angeles.”

Snoble signed the contract for construction of the Valley busway shortly after the meeting and said work could start by next week. The more complicated rail construction contract could take several months to wrap up.

The MTA will initially pay for the projects, likely through a loan. The state will reimburse the MTA starting about 2006.

Some of the reimbursement will come in the form of guaranteed funding for future projects. About $175 million will come in cash. MTA officials said the East Los Angeles rail line would likely have stalled for several years, and possibly never be built, without the $175-million guarantee.

That is because the Federal Transit Administration has promised to match state money with nearly $500 million, but would not do so without the assurance of a cash payback from the state, officials said.

While most state Transportation Commission board meetings are low-key affairs attended mostly by transit agency staff members, this meeting was different.

Snoble was joined by county Supervisors Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky, both MTA board members, as well as by City Councilman-elect Antonio Villaraigosa and Brian Williams, Mayor James K. Hahn’s transportation deputy. Each urged the commission to approve the plan.

Just as at their monthly board meetings, the MTA officials were countered by a representative from the advocacy group the Bus Riders Union, which has long sparred with the transit agency over bus improvements.

The representative said the railway, expected to cost taxpayers nearly $1 billion, was a waste and that the MTA should spend money only on buses.