Next stop, Rodeo Drive!

The House hands a very early victory to backers of the Subway to the Sea. Reports AP:

The House voted Wednesday to lift a ban on tunneling through West Los Angeles, clearing one obstacle to extending a subway line from downtown to the beaches of Santa Monica. The unanimous voice vote came on a bill by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, the same person who pushed through the 1986 federal prohibition in the first place. Waxman at that time feared construction could cause explosions of naturally occurring methane gas, something that had happened the year before. New research has convinced him and others that it can be done safely. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a supporter of building the 13.2-mile, $4 billion extension, wants the prohibition lifted, as does the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The House also passed Waxman’s bill last fall, during the last congressional session, but it didn’t get a vote in the Senate. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer reintroduced the legislation in the Senate this week. A Wilshire line could be a key link in the city’s subway system - known as the Red Line - that now covers a meager 17 miles from downtown to the San Fernando Valley.

Now comes the hard part: Finding the $5 billion to pay for it. And gaining the neighborhood support to build it.

Comments

[Tom A.]

Let me get this straight: A $5 billion subway extension to the beach is a no-brainer, but extending the Gold Line from Pasadena to Montclair for just over 1/5 that amount is a tough sell?!
I'm all for expanding rail transit throughout Southern California, including on the Westside, but when will the powerbrokers downtown realize that the Foothill Extension is not only a relative bargain, but also that if they added up all the lost productivity, fuel wasted and pollution created by the rapidly deteriorating situation of the 210, it would more-or-less pay for itself after a few years?
I guess our reps here in the 626 and 909 will just have to increase their budget for "favors."

[movielocke]

Great! just get the expo line to the sea as well, if it goes down Culver and Venice, all the better. Parallel east west backbones are essential to building a true rail skeleton for los angeles to complement the bus system. The next phase should be a rail line along the 405/Sepulveda corridor into the valley, connect to the subway, expo line(s), orange line and LAX as the first phase. Second phase could extend the 405 line down to Long Beach and third phase could extend it north to the metrolink train. That could all be done by the 2016 olympics if they started construction in the next two years. Since it'll never happen we'll just have to sigh at missed oppurtunities.

[terry entrikin]

Solving our traffic
Step 1 make all public transportation FREE.
Step2 raise the price of a gallon of gas .25 to .50 to pay for Free
transportation.

Results: If I can save Hundreds of dollars I will use Metrolink
More people using Metolink should free up the freeways
and those that chose to drive will have to pay.
More using Metrolink the demand for more timely stops and
routes.
BUT you have to make it FREE.

[nicholas simon]

all great news, but lets fast track the expo line to santa monica in the meantime!