LOS ANGELES — Local and national transportation officials gathered in Los Angeles Thursday to sign a grant agreement directing $670 million in federal funds toward a $1.4 billion project to connect light rail lines that miss each other by less than two miles at opposite ends of downtown Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority has been working with California congressional, state and city leaders to speed-up completion of a 20-year plan for a network of light rail throughout the county that involves a half-dozen projects.
This project and one that would connect Los Angeles International Airport to the rail system have been seen as glaring shortcomings in Metro's long-range plans to complete the network.
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, said she was "pleased to lead the charge earlier this year to ensure that Congress provided $130 million for the regional connector and the Purple line extension to the Westside."
The funds are part of a longer-term financial agreement to bring $670 million in federal grants and a $160 million low-interest federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan to Los Angeles Metro, Feinstein said.
The congresswoman lauded voters for approving Measure R, a 30-year half-cent sales tax approved in 2008, and estimated to bring in $40 billion in revenues, because that money has been used to leverage federal grants and loans such as the ones used for this project.
Metro operates the third-largest public transportation system in the United States by ridership with a 1,433-square-mile operating area that has almost 10 million residents, and 2,000 peak hour buses on the street any given business day. So far, it has designed, built and operates 87.8 miles of urban rail service.
The regional connector, which will close a 1.9-mile gap between two light rail lines in downtown, involves using a complex mix of federal, state and local funds.
Funding is comprised of $670 million in federal New Starts money, $114 million in state funds from Proposition 1A high-speed rail bonds, $149 million in Proposition 1B state bonds, and a $97 million state repayment of capital project loans. Metro's local contribution includes $23 million repaid from Measure R sales tax revenue, the $160 million federal TIFIA loan backed by Measure R revenues, $41 million in local agency funds, and $45 million from lease revenue.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is vice chair of the Metro board, called the project a "common sense" solution to improving the rider experience.
He also thanked the state's congressional leaders for helping the city get its "fair share" of transportation funding.
"This federal funding, combined with Measure R funding, we already have, is critical to expanding our transit system and cutting traffic," Garcetti said.
