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# City looks for transit solutions
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-looks-for-transit-solutions/
- Published: 2002-11-18T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:56:30.000Z
- Author: Andrew Fixmer
- Tags: Community, Downtown, #archive-import

*Santa Monica may have long wait for MTA light rail*

Frustrated with rampant traffic congestion, about 125 supporters of a proposed light rail line gathered Thursday to talk about mass-transit solutions.

The meeting brought residents, elected officials and mass-transit planners with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority together at the Ken Edwards Center to discuss plans for a proposed light rail line that would run from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica.

Officials de-briefed interested residents on the status of the plan, called the “Exposition Light Rail Project,” which they said is only lacking in funding at this point.

A blueprint allocating federal dollars for transportation projects over the next six years will be approved early next year in which millions of dollars could be given to fund the light rail.

The plan is both highly recommended by the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Federal Transit Administration in Washington, but the fight for the federal dollars remains fierce in these budget-tightening times.

“There is very little money available anywhere these days,” said planning commission chairman Darrell Clarke, who is involved with Friends4Expo Transit. “So you use it where it can be best utilized, and sending a light rail line down the incredibly congested Interstate 10 corridor is an incredibly good use.”

And Clarke said that’s why it’s so good that many residents turned out for the meeting, which was attended by representatives of Congressman Harry Waxman (D-West Hollywood), Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and several members of the state Legislature.

Clarke said residents made a strong impression on the officials that there is a definite desire for the light rail project to be completed.

“Elected officials are always curious about where the public support is going, and I think we impressed upon them that if people will turn out for a meeting on a Thursday night, they’ll go the distance to support the light rail line,” he said.

The line would run along what is known as “Exposition Corridor,” roughly paralleling and adding the equivalent capacity of up to two more lanes to the Santa Monica Freeway, which is the No. 1 congested freeway in the nation.

“It won’t solve our traffic problems, but it’s a piece of the solution,” said Santa Monica City Councilwoman Pam O’Connor, who is also an MTA board member.

“We can dedicate buses and lanes, and we’re reconfiguring lanes, but here’s a corridor that we have that can be used purely for transit,” she said. “Light rail carries more people.”

Already the MTA has committed to building part of the light rail project from downtown Los Angeles to the intersection of Robertson and Pico boulevards in Culver City.

But the second half of the project, which would extend the light rail line to Santa Monica, is still under investigation.

O’Connor said there still isn’t an agreement about which path the possible line would take to reach Santa Monica.

“When we get that phase completed, we’ll need to come to some agreement about the alignment, but there is still a lot more to be done before we get to that point,” she said.

In addition to the rail line, the tracks would incorporate a boulevard-like setting of trees and bike paths.

“It would be a park-like setting,” Clarke said. “I think it’ll be very beautiful and a welcome addition to every community it passes through.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 18, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/111802.pdf?ref=smdp.com)