Cities Show Support for Rail Extension : Transit: Pushing the Red Line to the 405 freeway is key to long-term needs, four mayors say. But debate continues on routing and on the desire for a project along Exposition Boulevard.

Local officials are glad the Metropolitan Transportation Authority appears likely to keep the westward extension of the Red Line in its long-term transportation blueprint for the county, but they’re urging the agency not to drop plans for additional rail service to the Westside.

The mayors of Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica and West Hollywood have sent a letter to County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who is chairman of the MTA, expressing their support for a proposal to bring the Red Line as far west as the San Diego (405) Freeway.

That proposal is part of a 20-year transportation plan recommended by the MTA’s staff and slated for consideration by the agency’s governing board sometime this spring. If approved, the plan would scale back the transit authority’s commitment to a series of transit projects that had been under consideration.

Although local officials say they are gratified the plan includes the Red Line extension, they are disappointed it does not call for other transit lines to the Westside, including an Exposition Boulevard route from USC to Santa Monica.

“We believe that the MTA staff recommendation for extension of the Red Line west to the 405 freeway is a minimum amount of rail transit to begin addressing the severity of the (traffic congestion) problem on the Westside” reads a portion of the letter, dated Jan. 19.

MTA planners have not determined what route the Red Line would take to the 405 Freeway. But they say the $1.8-billion extension would attract more passengers than other transit lines, easing traffic pressures along one of the most congested areas of the county.

In deciding against an additional electric-powered light rail service along the 12-mile Exposition right-of-way, the MTA determined the route--vehemently opposed by some homeowners--would not attract enough passengers to pay for itself.

The MTA acquired the Exposition right-of-way in 1990, one in a group of Southern Pacific Railroad properties that the transit authority bought at the time. On the Westside, the right-of-way runs parallel to the Santa Monica (10) Freeway, passes through a portion of Culver City and continues into Santa Monica.

Although they would like more local train service, Westside officials say, they are convinced that the MTA’s commitment to the Red Line extension is all they can expect.

“From a practical point of view, we understand that if we’re going to get rail on the Westside, the Red Line will be the way to get it,” said Joan English, director of transportation and public works for West Hollywood.

But the Red Line rapid transit project may not be an easy answer to the Westside’s congestion problem. Indeed, the Red Line project is fraught with environmental concerns.

The most daunting is the discovery of methane gas beneath Wilshire Boulevard along portions of the Red Line’s western corridor. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), citing concerns about explosions, successfully lobbied against a Red Line route along Wilshire Boulevard in his district, which includes Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Hollywood and Pacific Palisades. As a result, the MTA rerouted the line, only to find that hydrogen sulfide gas, also explosive, lies under its alternate route.

Contradicting Waxman’s position, the Beverly Hills City Council recently called on the MTA to consider Wilshire Boulevard as the route for the Red Line extension, said Beverly Hills council member Allan Alexander.

As Westside residents gear up for the likelihood of Red Line service in the next 20 years, some are not giving up on the Exposition route. And the MTA has offered a glimmer of hope that it might revive the project if it comes up with additional funds, said Steve Chesser, spokesman for the MTA.

“This is not the death of the Expo by any means,” Chesser said. “We don’t think there’ll be enough money in the first decade of the 20-year plan, but there might be in the second decade.”

An ad hoc group in Culver City, formed in 1992 when the Exposition route was under serious consideration by the MTA, recently recommended that the light rail line be allowed only if it is completely underground.

In Santa Monica, city officials in 1989 made a financial commitment to the Exposition project, buying a nine-acre piece of property for the storage of transit equipment for $17.2 million.

In Cheviot Hills, meanwhile, a tenacious homeowners group said it will continue to fight the Exposition line. The group argues that the train would run as close as 30 feet to houses built along the line.

“The MTA re-evaluates its plans every two years, so we can’t sleep on this issue,” said Terri Tippit of the West of Westwood Homeowners Assn.

Rail Plans

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority appears likely to extend the Red Line westward, but its plan includes no funding for electric-powered light rail service along the 12-mile Exposition right-of-way.