Jun 24, 2009 12:09 pm US/Pacific
Officials To Break Ground On Orange Line Extension
CHATSWORTH, Calif. (CBS) ―
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The four-mile extension was set to open in mid-2012.
CBS
Elected officials and transportation leaders were expected to break ground Wednesday on an extension of the Metro Orange Line that would stretch the bus way from the San Fernando Valley to Chatsworth.
The $215.6 million project was the first project funded by Measure R tax funds.
It will extend the Orange Line -- which operates on a dedicated bus way across the San Fernando Valley -- four miles from its western end point in Canoga Park to the Metrolink/Amtrak station in Chatsworth.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and City Council
members Greig Smith and Dennis Zine were among those expected to attend the Wednesday morning's groundbreaking ceremony.
Los Angeles County voters narrowly approved Measure R in November.
The measure received 67.41 percent of the vote and had required the approval of two-thirds of voters.
The half-cent sales tax was opposed by some residents and officials, who said the county's tax rate was high enough.
Some also complained that the planned allocation of the tax funds was not equally distributed among various parts of the county.
The majority share of the funding, nearly 35 percent would be spent on rail and bus rapid transit projects, including $4.2 billion for a subway connecting downtown with Westwood.
The remaining funding will be split among bus operations, highway projects, system improvements and rail operations, with 15 percent of the total given directly back to local governments for street repairs and other transportation-related projects.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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