Rivals Traffic in Ideas for Relieving Congestion

Anyone who has waited for an hour on congested streets just to get on the freeway -- or failed to make sense of the patchwork mass transit system -- knows firsthand the difficulties of getting around Los Angeles.

But imagine zipping out to Palmdale through a tunnel under the Angeles National Forest, or skipping the traffic on Wilshire Boulevard as you ride the Red Line subway out to the beach. Or what if a dedicated truckway to the Inland Empire from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach could take all the big rigs off the Long Beach Freeway?

Those dramatic ideas -- and more mundane ideas such as synchronizing traffic lights -- are among the anti-congestion options that transportation experts say could be available to the two men vying to be L.A.’s next mayor.

With four votes on the 12-member Metropolitan Transportation Authority board and a natural alliance with county supervisors -- who represent four more votes -- a savvy mayor could shape majority opinion on the panel that decides most local transportation projects. The mayor also picks the head of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, which is responsible for traffic flow, street repair and some buses on city streets.

In interviews, representatives of the Southern California Assn. of Governments, the Automobile Club of Southern California, the Reason Foundation, the Transit Coalition, Cal State Northridge, Loyola Marymount University, UCLA and others suggested various projects and programs that might help to ease congestion.

How do the two mayoral candidates view those ideas and how would they fund and build them?

Some of that is reflected in their past positions and campaign talking points.

Over the last four years, Mayor James K. Hahn has concentrated on affordable, practical fixes such as synchronizing traffic lights. If reelected, Hahn said, he would continue with plans to build about 450 more left-turn lanes -- while expanding the region’s network of Metro Rapid buses and light-rail trains. Hahn has been less involved at the MTA, turning down the opportunity to be chairman of the agency’s board and missing many of its meetings.

His opponent, City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, has set out an ambitious transportation plan, promising to lobby in Washington and Sacramento for money to build such projects as the proposed Exposition light-rail line to the Westside and an extension of the Red Line subway to Santa Monica. The councilman, a former California Assembly speaker, was active in negotiating several deals at the MTA, including a settlement to a protracted strike by bus and train mechanics, and in soothing ruffled feathers among the state’s congressional delegation to clear the way for funding for the Eastside extension of the Gold Line light rail.

For either man, the biggest challenge will be lobbying for scarce state and federal dollars and finding unusual funding sources, including private companies and investors, transportation experts say.

“We can talk about signal timing or new rail lines, but until that fundamental issue has been addressed, it’s all rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” said Brian D. Taylor, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA.

Still, the wish list is tantalizing for those stuck in traffic:

* Expanding freeways: Hahn supports adding lanes to an 18-mile stretch of the Long Beach Freeway leading to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and building truck-only portions. The mayor also supported a proposal to expand the Ventura Freeway between Studio City and Thousand Oaks that was withdrawn after residents objected.

Hahn said he would continue to push for such improvements. “We need to get past the point where 1,200 people or 500 people will stop something that can benefit hundreds of thousands of drivers every day,” he said.

Villaraigosa opposes large-scale freeway expansion, saying: “You’re not going to build freeways in communities that are already overbuilt.”

* Toll roads: Opening freeway carpool lanes to any driver willing to pay a hefty toll could help ease congestion.

Neither Hahn nor Villaraigosa supports that option.

But Hahn has said he would support toll lanes to manage congestion if new lanes were built alongside or atop freeways with private funds and the fees were used to pay back bondholders and other investors. Similar lanes exist in Orange and Riverside counties.

Villaraigosa would not say whether he would support construction of privately funded toll lanes. But the city councilman said that, if elected, he would convene a meeting of transportation experts to discuss this and other topics.

* Truckway: Supporters say a truck highway from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to Barstow would provide an alternative route for thousands of container trucks that clog the Long Beach and Pomona freeways each weekday.

Such dedicated truck lanes are estimated to cost $16 billion. Supporters, including the Southern California Assn. of Governments, envision paying for it with some federal seed money, along with private investment. Investors and the federal government would be paid back through tolls from truckers or shipping companies.

Hahn said he supported seeking private funds to pay for such a route and charging tolls.

Villaraigosa was vaguer, calling the truckway “an option we have to consider.” He cited skepticism among some experts about whether private investors would fund the project but said that, “assuming private sector funding, I think it’s an idea that could work.”

* Public transit: Of potential improvements to the region’s public transit system, several experts advocated the proposed Exposition light-rail line and a continuation of the Red Line subway westward under Wilshire Boulevard.

Villaraigosa promised to make the Exposition line his top transportation priority. It would start downtown, head south to Exposition Park and then west to Culver City and eventually Santa Monica. Hahn also supports building the line, which the MTA last week voted to start with local money, rather than waiting for federal funding. Hahn did not attend the MTA meeting. A spokeswoman said the mayor had a prior engagement and knew the item would pass without him.

During the primary, Villaraigosa said he would fight to extend the Red Line subway to the beach, but he acknowledges it could take years to clear the legal hurdles, including a congressional ban on tunneling in the Mid-Wilshire area and a countywide prohibition using local sales taxes to build subways.

Villaraigosa said he hoped to have completed a study within four years aimed at persuading U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) to seek a repeal of the ban he won on tunneling and, within eight or 10 years, have the line completed as far as Fairfax Boulevard.

Hahn also has said that he supports extending the Red Line, “either above of below ground” and that he has discussed the issue with Waxman.

Also on the Westside, airport traffic could be eased by a high-speed rail line connecting LAX with airports in Palmdale and Ontario, suggested Fernando J. Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

Villaraigosa said he would use the mayoral bully pulpit to lobby for high-speed rail but cautioned that such a project was not likely in the near term. He said he had not considered using Metrolink to connect the airport and downtown but suggested that building the proposed downtown connection between the Blue and Gold lines would make it easier to travel to the airport on the light-rail system.

Hahn said that high-speed rail was “an excellent idea” and that the city was helping to fund a study to see if it would be feasible.

Both support construction of a people-mover to link the airport with the Green Line light-rail service.

* Tunnel: Another private sector idea making the rounds is a proposal by the Santa Monica-based Reason Foundation to drill a tunnel under the Angeles National Forest to connect Glendale with Palmdale.

The road, which would consist of two 7 1/2 -mile tunnels connected by a 5-mile above-ground section, has piqued the interest of the Southern California Assn. of Governments and others, who say that tunneling is a way to fill freeway gaps and avoid some environmental and community impact.

The tunnel would cost about $2.3 billion and cut 45 to 60 minutes off travel time from the high desert to downtown Los Angeles, said Robert W. Poole Jr., founder of the Reason Foundation and its director of transportation studies. It would be built by private investors, who would charge tolls to recoup their money.

Hahn said that he was open to discussing a route to Palmdale but was most interested in the possibility of boring under South Pasadena to complete the Long Beach Freeway.

Villaraigosa dismissed the Palmdale tunnel proposal. “Nobody’s talking about that kind of stuff,” he said.

* Traffic lights: Los Angeles has a fairly sophisticated system for synchronizing traffic lights, but experts say that better signal timing could allow the city to improve capacity by about 7%.

There are left-turn arrows on just one-third of the city’s major intersections, and traffic engineers said that 1,000 more are needed. It would cost about $20 million to install them all. Hahn and Villaraigosa say they would synchronize lights and add left-turn signals.

Whoever wins the election, the next mayor won’t be able to avoid the region’s transportation problems, said Roger Snoble, chief executive of the MTA.

“We’re going to have to make some changes in the way we do things,” Snoble said, “or we’re not going to be able to get around at all.”