North County Transit Projects Get $65 Million

Los Angeles County officials voted unanimously Wednesday to spend about $65 million in federal grants and local sales taxes on 24 transportation projects in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

The money is part of $307.7 million that the County Transportation Commission allocated to city, county and state agencies for 135 projects in the county. The projects in the northern part of the county range from the Metro Red Line extension to North Hollywood to car-pool lanes on three San Fernando Valley freeways.

Gail Foy, spokeswoman for the city of Santa Clarita, said Wednesday that the $3.4 million allocated to her city will pay for “projects that are a long time coming to Santa Clarita.”

She said city officials are most pleased with $1.05 million to build a five-mile segment of a proposed Santa Clara River Bikeway, running from the Golden State Freeway to Shadow Pines Boulevard. The entire 14.5-mile bikeway will cost about $7.4 million, the balance of which will come from a bond measure and other state and local grants, Foy said.

Bill Budlong, executive director of the Antelope Valley Transit Authority, said the $1.8 million allocated to his agency will help pay for eight buses to expand a commuter service to downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.

He said the new buses will nearly double his present nine-bus fleet. Budlong said the service has been so popular that it operates at nearly two-thirds of its capacity without advertising.

“I think with any kind of marketing effort at all we will fill these buses in no time,” he said.

But some elected officials have said they were disappointed that projects proposed by the city of Los Angeles received only about $30 million, about half of which would be spent in the San Fernando Valley.

“The Valley is in need of additional transportation,” said Phillis Moat, transportation deputy for Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden, chairman of the council’s transportation committee.

However, the Valley will benefit from funding for projects proposed by the state and county, including $18.5 million to help complete the 6.3-mile Metro Red Line extension to North Hollywood and $21 million for car-pool projects on the Hollywood, Ventura and San Diego freeways.

The funds come from the 1991 federal transportation act that provided the county $104.3 million this year, and from Proposition C, a half-cent sales tax surcharge approved by voters in 1990 that generated $203.4 million for the county this year.

Proposition C funds had previously been unavailable to county transportation officials because of a lawsuit brought by members of the Libertarian Party of California. They contended that the measure--approved by a bare 50.4% majority--should be struck down because it lacked the two-thirds approval required by Proposition 13 and other measures. But the state Supreme Court in May upheld Proposition C, freeing $400 million a year for transportation programs statewide.