Post by update on Oct 22, 2009 16:35:27 GMT -8
MTA changes course, provides funding for Gold Line
LOS ANGELES - After receiving intense pressure from San Gabriel Valley lawmakers, the county's transportation board on Thursday agreed to include funding requests for a light rail through the San Gabriel Valley in its long-range plan.
The board of the county's Metropolitan Transportation Agency agreed to provide operational funding for the Gold Line upon its completion, and the board also directed the board to look into getting federal funds for the second phase of the Gold Line to Claremont.
Previously the the MTA plan did not provide operational funding for a Gold Line extension until 2017, even if work was completed before then. The construction authority tasked with building the line has said it wants to get the first phase of the line built by 2013.
That first phase goes to the Azusa/Glendora border. The second phase of the line, which is still unfunded, would go to Claremont. The amended long-range plan does direct the MTA to now look for federal funding, though not through the federal New Starts program, which is the system by which most local projects get federal funds.
The line currently stops in Pasadena.
Fourteen federal lawmakers on Tuesday mailed a letter to the MTA asking that the Gold Line's operational funds be guaranteed and that it be included in federal funding requests. Eight state lawmakers followed suit Wednesday.
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