Light Rail Clears First Stop

By Jorge Casuso

May 12 -- The Exposition Light Rail that would connect Santa Monica to Downtown Los Angeles rolled a little closer to becoming reality last week, when the State Senate Transportation Committee approved a bill creating an authority to oversee the project’s design and construction.

Modeled after the Pasadena Metro Blue Line Construction Authority, which oversaw the successful completion of Pasadena’s Blue Line light rail project, the authority would include representatives from the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Culver City.

State Senator Sheila James Kuehl, who authored the bill approved in committee May 6, said the legislation would help move along the project, which would be built on the Exposition Boulevard Corridor, an existing railroad right-of-way that was the site of an old Red Car trolley line.

“I am very pleased that the Expo light rail project is one step closer to getting under way,” Kuehl said in a statement. “This transportation improvement will link colleges and homes, businesses and schools, beaches and museums.

“It will benefit the quality of life and prosperity of every community it serves, help bring a greater cohesiveness to LA County and take some pressure off the Santa Monica Freeway,” she added. “This is a win for all of us.”

Mayor Richard Bloom, who testified in favor of the bill, said the 8 to 2 vote along party lines boded well for the project, which is expected carry 20,000 passengers a day.

“It’s a significant step along the way to becoming law,” Bloom said. “The results in the committee bode well for the bill…. We don’t have funding available at this point, but we will at least have a structure in place to build it. The next step is finding the resources.”

The light rail line, which is estimated to cost $426 million, would not require finding the land or displacing existing structures, Bloom said. “It’s unique in that it provides new capacity, but the land is there,” Bloom said.

Council member Pam O’Connor, a member of the MTA board, hopes the bill will help the project get back on track after a series of setbacks, including the Federal government’s decision a year ago to pull an anticipated $155 million.

“Anything we can do is important,” said O’Connor. “This is the first hurdle, and there’s still more to go. There’s so many competing projects and our focus is to get this built. It should have been built ten to twelve years ago.”

The bill’s next stop will be the Senate Appropriations Committee, then the Senate Floor, before reaching he full Assembly.