MTA Fund Cuts Leave Valley Rail Plans in Limbo : Transit: Project between Universal City and San Diego Freeway will be delayed, and completion to Warner Center questionable.

Even in the best of times, construction of a mass transit railway across the San Fernando Valley was decades away. Now, with Southern California rail officials reining in their long-term plans, its future is even more uncertain.

The bottom line: Laying rails between Universal City and the San Diego Freeway remains on track, but behind schedule. And plans to extend the rail line west to Warner Center in Woodland Hills are dead--at least for now.

“The Valley is the one area that gets shortchanged in many ways,” said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar).

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is scheduled to vote in March on plans to cut its 30-year, $183-billion spending plan to a more modest $65 billion over the next two decades. The proposed rail network would shrink from 225 miles to just 95.

The cuts would jeopardize most proposed rail projects around Los Angeles County, including extension of the Metro Red Line from the San Diego Freeway west to Warner Center.

While disappointing to local officials and community leaders, the proposed cuts are hardly surprising.

“I don’t think it’s as much of a change as it’s been made out to be,” said Ken Bernstein, planning deputy to City Councilwoman Laura Chick.

As early as last October--just days after the MTA decided to pursue a mostly subway route across the Valley--officials already were hinting that the western portion of the line may never be built because of funding shortfalls.

Even in a best-case scenario, the route--a 13.8-mile, $2.3-billion project--would not have been completed until after 2018.

Under the proposed cuts, the eastern portion of the Valley line--a mostly underground line between Universal City and the San Diego Freeway--would begin sometime after 2002, though work could be delayed further by the cuts.

The focus now, community leaders said Thursday, is to make sure the Valley does not lose out on a rail line altogether. Currently, the Valley line tops the MTA’s list of second-priority projects, putting it behind some projects already under way, such as the Green Line train between Norwalk and Los Angeles International Airport.

Over time, MTA officials can rearrange the priority and timing of projects.

“The message to people in the Valley is that we have to be real vigilant about this,” said Marcia Mednick, transportation co-chair of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. “I think it sends a note of caution to make sure at least a portion of the Valley line stays in the 20-year plan.”

As it was, the 30-year plan was considered more of a wish list than anything else by transit planners, with rail lines reaching into virtually every corner of the county to buy support for mass transit.

Other lines that would be cut include a light rail link between Glendale and Burbank, as well as a costly high-speed train between Palmdale and Los Angeles International Airport.

“It had something for everyone,” Bernstein said of the old plan. “This 20-year plan is much more grounded in reality.”

But Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who serves on the MTA board, said the new plans still focus too heavily on big-ticket projects, like subways and rail lines. The plan shortchanges cheaper and more flexible ways of reducing traffic congestion--from telecommuting programs to shuttle bus services for suburban areas, he said.

Even so, Antonovich said he still supports an elevated rail line straddling the Ventura Freeway across the Valley and will ask that the MTA board restore the Valley line to its long-range plans.

“We could have it built by March of 2000,” he said.