Post by Tribune Story on Jul 30, 2004 23:16:17 GMT -8
By Mary Bender , Staff Writer
Extending the Gold Line to Montclair, adding car-pool lanes to the San Bernardino (10) Freeway and building Alameda Corridor East would dramatically improve traffic flow through the San Gabriel Valley, according to a new study.
The projects, some of which have already begun construction, or been partially funded, are among 10 "traffic busters' compiled in the "Mobility 21' study by MTA, the Automobile Club of Southern California and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
The three organizations will hold "Mobility 21: L.A. County Moving Together,' the third annual transportation summit, Tuesday in Burbank.
The 24-mile Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension, which would run from Pasadena to Montclair in San Bernardino County, hopes to win federal funding for about half its price tag. The proposed light rail system, currently undergoing an environmental review, would also travel through Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale, Azusa, Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Pomona and Claremont.
The Gold Line whose backers are pushing for completion by 2014 would provide commuters an alternative to the increasingly sluggish Foothill (210) Freeway, which has grown even more crowded since Caltrans opened a La Verne-to-Fontana freeway extension two years ago.
"By the time (the Gold Line) opens, you'll have a lot more housing' in the eastern cities along the freeway corridor, said John Fasana, mayor of Duarte and a member of the MTA board of directors. "The population is only growing in California, and it's only growing in the Inland Empire.'
Two other light rail projects the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension and the so-called Expo Line also made the traffic busters list. MTA broke ground on the Eastside line from Union Station to East Los Angeles two weeks ago, and the six-mile project should carry its first passengers in 2009.
MTA is placing high priority on the Expo Line, which would run from Los Angeles to Santa Monica. Agency officials, including board members, often say they'd like to build it before the Gold Line to Montclair, citing low ridership so far on the L.A.-to-Pasadena Gold Line as the reason the Foothill Extension should wait.
"It's always been frustrating to the San Gabriel Valley the talk that (the Montclair line) won't open until 2025,' Fasana said.
"Zev Yaroslavsky has tossed that (date) out,' he said, referring to the county supervisor and MTA board member who has championed the Expo Line, which goes through his Westside district.
Meanwhile, freeways aren't the only roadways that would get relief under the traffic busters wish list. Surface streets, where long lines of cars back up for several minutes when freight trains pass dozens of times per day, will benefit from the Alameda Corridor East project.
Construction has already begun at some of the 20 intersections along the rail corridor. In all, underpasses and overpasses will be created in San Gabriel, Pomona, El Monte, Montebello, City of Industry and assorted unincorporated spots.
"Our goal is to finish by 2008,' said Rick Richmond, chief executive officer of the Alameda Corridor East Construction Authority.
The ACE project focuses on two sets of Union Pacific railroad tracks on which 69 trains per day run 55 of them freight trains, and the other 14 Metrolink and Amtrak passenger trains.
Because of increases in freight arriving at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, growing amounts of cargo are being transported on the east-west Union Pacific lines through the San Gabriel Valley.
Sometimes, traffic is blocked as long as 20 minutes at intersections when one freight train in each direction rumbles past, Richmond said.
"The projection from our studies ... of train traffic, just on those two lines, will grow to 161 trains per day' by 2025, he said.
-- Mary Bender can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4456 or by e-mail at mary.schubert@sgvn.com .