Gold Line to airport - idea has wings
OUR VIEW: Villaraigosa's support is important to a project that makes great sense for the region.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's endorsement of studying extension of the Gold Line all the way to Ontario's airport provides a major boost for the project.
That's because, up until now, L.A.'s powerful mayor has favored urban projects, like the so-called "Subway to the Sea," over the eastern extension of the Gold Line. Because the transportation funding pot is only so large, Villaraigosa's support for new rail lines on L.A.'s Westside has painted him as almost a de facto opponent of the Gold Line.
But the recent push to extend the Gold Line all the way to LA/Ontario International Airport has captured the mayor's attention because it fits with his goal of regionalizing Southern California's air services and relieving traffic congestion - or at least keeping it from getting worse - around LAX.
Villaraigosa gave his blessing to a planned $500,000 examination of the possibility of moving the planned eastern terminus of the light rail line from Montclair to L.A./ONT.
If any part of that study is supposed to determine whether it's a good idea to have the Gold Line end at the airport instead of at Montclair's rail and bus center, we can save them some money:
It is absolutely a good idea.
Connecting trains and airports is eminently sensible, particularly in traffic-clogged Southern California. It's maddening that Metro's Green Line stops short of LAX, for example, instead of smoothly transporting rail riders to the airport. In contrast, the Bay Area's BART rail system connects to the airports in San Francisco and Oakland.
Consider a resident of Pasadena or Azusa 10 years or so from now - when the Gold Line extension might be finished - who wants or needs to take a flight. If the trains roll right to LA/ONT, that would be an easy airport to reach. But if the Gold Line stops in Montclair, requiring a transfer via bus (or a couple of buses) to reach the airport, it might not be the way to go.
Or imagine a traveler in that future flying into LA/ONT, riding the Gold Line from the airport to Montclair and transferring to a Metrolink train that runs to downtown L.A. It only makes sense for the whole region to have that kind of connectivity.
Another mayor, Ontario's Paul Leon, sees it. "It gives you a destination at both ends: `I'm heading to Los Angeles' or `I'm heading to the airport in Ontario," he said in an aviation summit at LA/ONT in March.
The extension study will take 12 to 16 months and will include government representatives from Ontario, Upland and Rancho Cucamonga. It will involve public meetings to determine possible routes the line would take to the airport.
Villaraigosa's support gives the Gold Line project more leverage, said Habib Balian, CEO of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority.
And it's going to need it. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is going to have to approve about $8 million a year for the Gold Line's operating expenses in order to give the project a chance at necessary federal funding, said John Fasana, a Duarte councilman and MTA board member.
At the federal level, the extension has strong backing from Reps. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, and Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena.
We'd like to see the whole MTA board join Mayor Villaraigosa in backing the Gold Line extension to LA/ONT. It only makes sense for the whole region.
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA) October 15, 2007