South L.A. Light Rail Gets the Green Light

Right: PEOPLE POWER — Just a few of the hundreds of people who crammed into MTA headquarters Dec. 10 at a board meeting. The meeting was held, in part, to discuss the proposed light rail project along the Crenshaw Corridor in South Los Angeles. The MTA board voted unanimously to approve the rail project, as well as to study the feasibility of building a portion of the project underground.

The board of directors of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) recently gave unanimous approval to a "Locally Preferred Alternative" calling for light-rail transit along the Crenshaw Corridor through South Los Angeles.

The December 10 vote by the 13-member panel of public officials from throughout the region means that the proposed rail line is now expected to stretch from Crenshaw and Exposition boulevards to Aviation Boulevard, putting its southern terminus near the Green Line and close to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The 8.5-mile project is expected to cost approximately $1.7 billion, according to MTA officials.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said that he considered the vote by MTA to be a victory for the South Los Angeles community.

"This project is long overdue and will provide congestion relief, improve air quality and serve as an economic catalyst," Ridley-Thomas said in a press statement.

At issue during the meeting was the decision on whether the project should be a light rail instead of a busway — and the option of having a portion of a rail line built underground. The option of building a subway through a portion of the route has been championed by many in the community as a safety measure that would eliminate dangerous street-level crossings amid vehicle traffic. A subway would also preserve significant amounts of surface parking in a key commercial corridor of South Los Angeles that would be lost if an above-ground option is selected, according to backers of the concept.

The Expo Line, a separate light-rail project currently under construction with stops in South Los Angeles, has drawn fire from some community members over its street-level crossings. Meanwhile, the chance to speak in favor of an option that would have the Crenshaw Corridor rail line being underground from West 48th to West 59th streets along was considered by some to be a crucial factor in the mobilizing of a large crowd that turned out for the meeting at the MTA's headquarters near Union Station on the edge of Downtown. Hundreds of people packed the MTA's board room at One Gateway Plaza, and overflow rooms had to be opened to accommodate attendees.

"A lot of the people we spoke with did not know what was happening, and the few that did, did not know the extent of what Metro was proposing," said Damien Goodmon, a spokesperson for The Citizen's Campaign to Fix the Expo Line (Fix Expo).

"They did not know the street-level design would have taken half of the parking on Crenshaw Boulevard away."

Although Fix Expo has been critical of the MTA's process of light-rail development in South L.A., it also described the day's events as a victory.

An e-mail blast sent by the group after the meeting said: "For the first time in the history of the current process, MTA will now conduct a study and identify a funding strategy to keep the entire Crenshaw Blvd. portion of the Crenshaw-LAX Line in a subway.

"A full Crenshaw Blvd. subway would allow our children, elderly and the public at-large to walk/drive across the street without having to negotiate with 225-ton trains, preserve over 200 parking spaces crucial to the commerce of local small businesses, provide some basic equity to the system, and reduce the travel time of the train ride by 25%."

The MTA estimates that more than 7,500 construction jobs will be created annually by the project. The line could open as early as 2016. However, another estimated time frame for the opening is 2018.

A firm named Hatch Mott MacDonald currently has a $10 million contract for preliminary engineering conceptual planning, primarily to "study" portions of the proposed Crenshaw Corridor for its environmental and physical feasibility.

The next steps for the MTA include an environmental impact study and report on the proposed underground portion of the rail line.

"We will continue to monitor this process closely and remain prepared to protest if the changes are not sufficient at this stage in the process," Goodmon said.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga is an Assistant Editor at the L.A. Watts Times.

Photo Courtesy of Mark-Ridley Thomas' office.

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