Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is in Washington, D.C., lobbying for federal funds to push 12 major transportation projects across L.A. County in 10 years, instead of 30 as originally planned.
This is Villaraigosa’s fourth trip to Washington in the last three months.
The cost of the projects: $18.5 billion. Under the original plan, that money would have been funded over 30 years through Measure R, a half-cent sales tax that voters approved in 2008.
Villaraigosa wants federal loan guarantees and/or interest rate subsidies to shorten the timeline by 20 years.
Accelerating the projects would create 166,000 construction jobs and 2,800 permanent operations and maintenance jobs, Villaraigosa said.
Here’s the list of projects:
-The Orange Line Canoga Extension, which is under construction
-The Westside Subway Extension, a portion of the so-called Subway to the Sea
-A Regional Connector that will link several light rail lines passing through downtown Los Angeles
-The Crenshaw corridor transit project
-The Foothill Extension of the Metro Gold Line
-Phase 2 of the Expo light rail line on the Westside
-The Green Line connection to Los Angeles International Airport
-The Green Line connection to South Bay
-The San Fernando Valley 405 corridor connection
-The West Santa Ana branch corridor
-The San Fernando Valley North-South Rapidways
-The Eastside Extension to El Monte or Whittier
