> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Subway to the Sea gets back on track
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/subway-to-the-sea-gets-back-on-track/
- Published: 2007-09-17T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:53:30.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Downtown, #archive-import

*Subway project appears ready to roll*

*By GERRY SHIH Special to the Daily Press*

LOS ANGELES Whether you love it, hate it or plan to keep driving like an old-school Angeleno and just don’t care — a much-debated subway line to Santa Monica could be back on track.

The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to repeal a ban on federal funding for the construction of a subway line connecting the seaside community to the rest of the subway network centered in downtown Los Angeles. Following the decision in Washington, the political process for building the Metro Purple Line lurched forward again, representing the latest development in a tortuous 20-year, stop-and-go saga that has made I-10 rush hour traffic look fluid in comparison. that moves us closer to building a subway to the sea to help get the city moving again,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a longtime proponent of extending the subway system to Santa Monica.

If built, the subway would effectively compete for riders with the proposed light railway. Local officials recently approved funding for the light rail from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City, but the final leg from Culver City to Santa Monica is still under environmental impact review.

After much debate, plans to build the subway line stopped dead in 1985, when a funding ban was enacted after Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, argued that the threat of methane explosions made tunneling in the area too dangerous.

The tide began to turn in 2005, when an independent peer review panel determined the area was indeed safe for tunneling. The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority further advanced planning efforts by agreeing to spend $3.6 million to study the feasibility of the project.

Kate Vernez, assistant to the City Manager in Santa Monica, said the plans would extend the old Red Line between Union Station and the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue to downtown Santa Monica, possibly with a terminal station on Wilshire or Santa Monica boulevards.

While City Hall supports the subway plans, Vernez said the above-ground transit option from Culver City to a station next to Santa Monica Place mall is a higher priority.

“The City Council is supportive of the project, but after the Expo Light Rail Phase Two is built,” she said.

The subway’s controversy extends beyond the practical dangers of tunneling. Besides relieving the county’s notorious traffic congestion, proponents have suggested that the proposed subway would encourage business and serve as a direct conduit between the two tourist hot spots in downtown LA and Santa Monica. Meanwhile, opponents have questioned the feasibility of any attempts to cover the vast county with a subway network, and further argue that one particular appeal of Santa Monica — the community’s relative exclusivity and distance from the bustle and chaos of the urban center — might be lost with the installation of a direct line with relatively cheap fare. The LA Metro currently charges $5 for a one day unlimited bus or rail pass.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, whose Fifth District would not be covered by the subway line, remains a staunch opponent to the construction plans.

“Instead of spending nearly $10 billion of scarce county resources on a subway that serves just three cities,” he said, “we need cost-effective, environmentally-sensitive light rail projects that relieve congestion coun-tywide and expand the transit network for the rest of the county’s 88 cities and unincorporated areas.”

A Senate-House conference committee will now reconcile some minor differences between the Senate and House versions of the funding bill. Washington lawmakers appear generally supportive of the subway construction, however, as both Congressional versions contain an element that removes the original funding ban.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/091707-02_01.jpg)

(Photo: BY GERRY SHIH Special to the Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 17, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091707.pdf?ref=smdp.com)