Los Angeles transportation authority lands $390 million in state bond funds

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) was awarded more than $390 million from the California Transportation Commission and the California Department of Transportation to support construction of new rail, upgrade service, buy rail cars and improve buses, the authority announced yesterday.

The funds will come from Proposition 1B, the 2006 voter-approved transportation bond; Proposition 1, the voter-approved high-speed rail bond; and the State Transportation Improvement Program, LACMTA officials said in a press release.

The high-speed program targets funds at connectivity with future high-speed rail service. LACMTA used its Measure R funds, which county voters approved in 2008, to aid in leveraging state funding to Los Angeles County, authority officials said.

The state funds include $264 million for the Regional Connector project, which will improve connectivity countywide by linking Metro Blue, Expo and Gold lines via a 1.9-mile extension of light-rail track beneath downtown Los Angeles; and $61 million for the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor, a new 8.5-mile light-rail line that will connect the Metro Green and Exposition lines and provide a link to Los Angeles International Airport.

Included in LACMTA's long-range transportation plan, the projects were chosen because they are under way and a new round of funding will ensure they will stay on schedule, authority officials said.