On track for a faster train to Westwood

It’s a frustrated motorist’s drive-time dream: ditching the westbound traffic and jumping on a subway to Westwood. That rush hour fantasy just got closer to reality with recent developments in Washington that boost the subway’s chances for federal funding while potentially making it much quicker to build.

How much quicker? Construction on the $4.2 billion project could start in 2013, and extend the subway all the way to Westwood by 2017. (Earlier projections had it getting as far as the Fairfax District by 2019 and not arriving in Westwood until 2036.) In other words, under the accelerated timetable, somebody who’s now in the 5^th grade could be riding the subway to their freshman classes at UCLA—instead of waiting until long after they get their Ph.D.

The Westside Subway Extension is one of a dozen local transit projects that would be accelerated under the so-called 30/10 plan, which on Friday got a boost from Washington when U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer released a letter from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood signaling administration support for the initiative. The 30/10 plan, initiated by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and unanimously supported by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Board of Directors, would borrow against future Measure R funding to build in 10 years projects that ordinarily would have taken 30. (For a full list of the projects, click here.)

Boxer also announced another development with major ramifications for the Westside Subway Extension project. Instead of breaking the subway extension into three separate legs, the entire 9.3-mile stretch will now be considered as a single project by the Federal Transit Administration.

That’s important because the line’s cost-effectiveness—the number of riders and how much time they’ll save measured against the cost of the project—is more compelling with the inclusion of the Westwood station, which is projected to have between 11,000 and 14,000 boardings a day. And that could provide a competitive edge when it comes to obtaining the federal funding that will be necessary to complete the project.

“This represents the most signficant ‘good news’ for the Wilshire subway extension since the passage of Measure R in 2008,” said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a member of Metro’s Board of Directors. “Federal transit officials recognize the value of accelerating the subway extension and the other 11 Measure R transit projects so that we can realize their benefit in our lifetime.”

Aside from the federal money Metro would need to borrow as part of the 30/10 initiative, officials also are counting on the federal government to kick in about half the subway’s cost—some $2.1 billion. Since the project needs to compete with other projects around the country to secure those funds, the decision to evaluate the extension as a whole is key.

Raffi Haig Hamparian, Metro government relations manager for federal affairs, said the decision to evaluate the subway as a single project “sets the stage for a major—and some would say overdue—federal investment in Los Angeles County.” He added that the fast-tracking of the subway, along with other projects, including the Regional Connector, would move the region “one step closer to having a world class rail system in L.A. County, something voters envisioned when they overwhelmingly supported Measure R.”

Even with the latest developments in Washington, the subway project still has a long way to go before construction can start. For one thing, despite Transportation Secretary LaHood’s letter to Boxer, the 30/10 plan has yet to be formally embraced by the government. And funding for the subway under the federal “New Starts” program is not assured.

Preliminary environmental work on the project is underway now, with a series of community meetings scheduled for this summer before the planned midsummer released of a draft environmental impact report. (Here’s an informative presentation from the meetings held in April.)

Public hearings on the report will take place before it is presented to Metro’s Board of Directors In September. Once a “locally preferred alternative” route is adopted, work will begin on a final environmental impact report expected to go before the board in the fall of 2011.

Then come a number of steps—including obtaining an early commitment from the Federal Transit Administration to provide federal money for the project—before a final funding agreement could be negotiated.

Still, the latest developments from Washington mean “we’re now on a fast track,” Hamparian said. “We used to talk about the subway in the abstract—like a Picasso painting. Now people ask, ‘When is construction going to start?’ “

Posted 6/07/10