Transportation Routes

A potential corridor for passenger trains between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has become part of a federal initiative to modernize the nation's rail networks and develop high-speed service between cities. Thursday's announcement, however, might doom a 30-year-old proposal to build a high-tech magnetic levitation, or "maglev," train from Anaheim to Las Vegas if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) gets his way.

President Obama announced Monday that highway projects spurred by the administration's $787-billion economic stimulus plan are coming in "ahead of schedule and under budget," but the program's early success may owe more to the depth of the economic crisis than to any newfound efficiency in Washington. State governments, facing black-hole deficits, went into overdrive to grab a share of the $28 billion for highways and bridges that was provided in the stimulus bill.

This city's much-hyped plan to transform an abandoned 22-mile railroad loop into a green trail and transit route received a significant setback Monday when the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that school property taxes could not be used to fund the project. Atlanta officials, who have invested $160 million in the so-called BeltLine, had expected about $850 million to come from future school tax revenue.

G'Day travelers, air fares to Down Under are on their way down. Travel between Sydney, Australia, and Los Angeles, considered one of the more popular but most expensive routes in the world, may be soon be getting more competitive for airlines and cheaper for passengers. After a decade of wrangling, Australian and U.S. negotiators agreed to a landmark aviation pact to open their skies to each other's airlines, and Los Angeles International Airport may become the big winner.

Is the MTA going to build a rail line to nowhere? That's what some critics are asking after transportation officials unveiled long-awaited plans for a light-rail system that would run through Southwest L.A. and to the South Bay. The proposed $1-billion line would start on Crenshaw Boulevard at Exposition Boulevard and end at the 105 Freeway in El Segundo.

One of the more popular but most expensive routes in the world is getting some competition, and that means cheaper air fares for Southern California travelers. V Australia, a new airline started by British billionaire Richard Branson, said Monday that it would begin nonstop service between Sydney and Los Angeles International Airport in December with round-trip fares averaging about $250 less than the competition.

Even as rising fuel costs are grounding weaker airlines -- including three this month -- airline competition is heating up for travelers flying the Pacific coast. On the runway is JetBlue Airways Corp. with new 100-seat jets that will begin flying next month from Long Beach up and down the coast in a move that financial analysts say may be bold but risky.

It's taken eight years and $6 million for Burbank airport officials to come up with a proposed solution to ease sleep-depriving aircraft noise that has frustrated nearby residents for decades: Shift some overnight operations to Van Nuys Airport. The recommendation by the Glendale-Burbank-Pasadena Airport Authority is the latest chapter in what has been among the most acrimonious homeowner battles in the San Fernando Valley.

Last week, I took a ride on the Green Line, the light-rail line along the 105 Freeway that connects Norwalk and Redondo Beach. Well, sort of connects them. First, the line starts a mile short of the Norwalk Metrolink station, then steers clear of LAX and ends on the edge of Redondo Beach at a station surrounded by the 405 Freeway, a Volkswagen dealership, a utility substation and a Northrop Grumman plant.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials Thursday said that after looking at all the options, they would like to build a four-mile busway along Canoga Avenue in the San Fernando Valley to connect the Orange Line busway and the Chatsworth Metrolink station. Officials had been looking at options for mass transit along Canoga and decided that a busway, built atop an old rail right-of-way, was the best and most affordable option. The project would include an adjacent bike lane.