Pasadena : Purchase of Right of Way

The Pasadena Board of Directors has urged the county Transportation Commission to buy the Santa Fe railroad right of way from downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena for construction of a light rail transit line.

Light rail cars would reach Pasadena through Highland Park. The railroad right of way is one of two Los Angeles-Pasadena alignments under study by the county Transportation Commission. The other alignment, which is favored by Alhambra, would bring the line along Main Street through El Sereno, and then turn north along the extension of the Long Beach Freeway.

Acting on recommendations from its Light Rail Alignment Task Force and Transportation Advisory Commission, the Pasadena board urged the county Transportation Commission to refrain from tying the transit line to the long-delayed Long Beach Freeway project. In addition, the board noted that by buying the Santa Fe right of way east to San Bernardino, the commission could preserve the right of way for a commuter rail line to supplement the Los Angeles-Pasadena trolley system.

The county commission has completed a draft environmental impact report for the Main Street and Highland Park alignments from Los Angeles to El Sereno and South Pasadena. Pasadena is conducting studies of light rail alignments through Pasadena. The Pasadena board this week urged the county commission to finance environmental studies of the route through Pasadena as quickly as possible so that the commission can consider the entire line when it begins making decisions on when to provide funds for construction.