WASHINGTON — Two decades after the federal government effectively blocked construction of a subway to Los Angeles' Westside, Congress is on the verge of clearing a major obstacle to the long-deferred project.
At the urging of Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), the House is expected Wednesday to repeal a ban on tunneling through West Los Angeles, a key step in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's drive to bring the Red Line from its current Mid-Wilshire terminus to the sea.
Senate approval is expected soon afterward.
"The progress of Mr. Waxman's legislation is great news for Los Angeles," the mayor said in a statement Monday, adding that it would "allow the city to renew its partnership with the federal government to reduce traffic congestion."
The 13.2-mile extension, which transit officials estimate would cost at least $4.8 billion, is still years away.
And even with a congressional blessing, the project faces many more obstacles, not the least of which is the difficult and politically delicate task of raising money for the project.
But Waxman's push to repeal a ban he championed after a 1985 subterranean methane explosion in the city's Fairfax neighborhood further fuels the campaign to revive the city's most ambitious public transit line.
A few years ago, that campaign seemed all but dead.
Cost overruns, massive disruptions and construction defects in the 1990s sapped public support for subway construction in Los Angeles County.
In 1998, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky seized on public anger to push a ban on the use of local sales tax money for further tunneling, limiting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's ability to extend the Red Line to the west.
But increased traffic through the Westside has rekindled support for a subway. West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, once leery of a connection to the region's public transit system, now support the project.
And during the 2005 mayoral campaign, Villaraigosa made the Red Line a central part of his expansive vision for modernizing Los Angeles.
Today, Yaroslavsky, who said he favors a Red Line extension, says his ban would not preclude the subway project because sales tax dollars could be used for non-tunneling parts of the project while other local money could be used to fund the tunneling.
For his part, Waxman said he simply wanted to remove the tunneling ban now that experts have concluded that construction can be completed without risk of further methane explosions.
