A transportation advocacy group encouraged community members to lobby legislators for expansion of the Los Angeles subway into Westwood at a neighborhood meeting Tuesday night.
The meeting was hosted by Southern California Transit Advocates, a grassroots nonprofit organization, which supports plans to extend the city’s Red Line subway to the Westside.
Though exact routes have not yet been determined, the subway expansion would likely run under Wilshire Boulevard.
The meeting comes as the U.S. Senate is set to vote on legislation repealing a 1986 ban on federal funding for subway construction in the area, which resulted from fears of dangerous methane gas under Wilshire Boulevard.
As new studies have shown subway construction to be safe, some have begun to campaign again for the Red Line extension, which they say would enhance public transportation options for UCLA students.
“Wilshire Boulevard is probably the highest traffic corridor in the entire country that does not have a true rapid transit system,” said Kymberleigh Richards, cochair of Public and Legislative Affairs Committee for Southern California Transit Advocates.
“What we want to do is to start building the grassroots support for (subway extension) now,” Richards said.
At the meeting, the advocacy group passed out pamphlets on contacting state and federal legislators, and provided maps of congressional and assembly districts.
Though Los Angeles Metro is still in preliminary research on the project, Richards said she believes it is important to build support early.
Los Angeles Metro spokeswoman Jody Litvack, who was present at the event, said Metro will begin analyzing options for the Wilshire corridor in June and hopes to finish its analysis by summer of 2008. She added that Metro currently does not know whether the Wilshire corridor expansion would take the form of a subway or an above-ground rail system.
If Metro chooses to expand in the form of an underground subway, Litvack estimated the project would cost $300 to $350 million per mile.
This brings the total cost of expanding the subway to around $10 billion, Richards estimated.
Despite the cost, Richards said she is convinced a subway would be the only option because it would best reduce street traffic and would be less intrusive.
Daniel Rad, a fourth-year history student, said extension of the subway would be “wonderful.”
Rad said he has a job downtown this year and the subway would make his commute quicker. He added that he believes a subway would be better-received than above-ground rail systems.
“Some cities might consider (above-ground rail) an eyesore,” Rad said.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has come out in favor of a Westwood subway project, saying in a press release that a subway “will get Los Angeles moving again.”
But Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich opposes expanding the subway to Westwood.
“Supervisor Antonovich is vehemently opposed to spending roughly $10 billion on an underground subway,” said Tony Bell, a spokesman for Antonovich.
Bell said Antonovich would instead prefer an above-ground rail solution, which would be cheaper and allow for more programs across the county.