Expo gets funds
CITYWIDE Local public transit advocates let out a collective sigh of relief on Wednesday when the state’s transportation agency allocated $314 million to move the Exposition Light Rail project forward.
The California Transportation Commission — the state agency that allocates funding for transit construction projects — pulled approximately 45 percent from its $683 million coffer to finance a huge chunk of the light rail project’s first phase.
The decision comes a few weeks after the state senate finally broke through a political stalemate on Aug. 21, passing the budget 51 days after the beginning of the fiscal year. The delays caused the CTC to wait until this week’s meeting to appropriate funding for many of the state’s transportation projects, making Exposition Light Rail advocates nervous since construction for the project had begun in mid-August. currents in Sacramento are so fluid right now and so unpredictable that it would’ve been irresponsible to assume that it was going to pass,” said LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky on Thursday. “If it hadn’t passed, the project would’ve come to a grinding halt.”
The first phase of the project will connect Downtown Los Angeles to Culver City, costing an estimated $640 million to construct. More than $550 million of the price tag comes from state funding, including approximately $250 million that was previously allocated, according to Expo officials.
A further delay in funding would not only have affected the first phase, but undoubtedly the second phase, which could take the light rail from Culver City to a terminal in Downtown Santa Monica.
The first stretch is expected to open in 2010 and the second phase, which is currently undergoing an environmental impact assessment, is estimated to be completed in 2015.
“This is the best rail project in the country and it’s only the best light rail in the country if it’s in Santa Monica,” Yaroslavsky said. “That is where the rider-ship is, both to and from.”
There could be up to three stations in Santa Monica — one at Bergamot Station, a second at an undetermined location in mid-city and a terminal at the Sears auto lot on Fourth Street and Colorado Avenue.
The Exposition light rail will begin at the 7th Street/Metro Center station in Downtown Los Angeles, traveling south and then west alongside the 10 Freeway until it hits Culver City, a trip estimated to take less than 30 minutes.
Along with Expo funding, the California Transportation Commission also allocated approximately $7.6 million to widen the westbound off-ramp from Sepulveda Boulevard to Nash Street near LAX. The $683 million in allocation for fiscal 2007-08 covers 35 projects statewide.
Local officials criticized state leaders last month for the political tug-of-war that postponed passage of the $145 billion budget. While the state assembly passed its version of the budget on July 20, the state senate did not succeed until Aug. 21, falling short of a few votes on previous attempts.
“It’s critical that construction on phase one move forward and we have the necessary money now,” said Darrell Clarke a former Santa Monica Planning Commissioner and current member of the Friends 4 Expo Transit. “The Expo line is an alternative to the hideous Westside traffic.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 7, 2007. Read the original PDF.