Cities collaborate for Gold Line extension along 60 Freeway (Whittier Daily News)

Link: Cities collaborate for Gold Line extension along 60 Freeway - Whittier Daily News

Cities collaborate for Gold Line extension along 60 Freeway
By Rebecca Kimitch, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/02/2010 06:23:22 PM PST

A group of San Gabriel Valley cities is hedging its transportation bets.

Another extension of the Gold Line East is not likely to happen for decades. However, South El Monte, Rosemead, Montebello, Monterey Park and El Monte are collaborating on preliminary work to try to show transportation officials that the line should run through their cities rather than a route that goes south to Whittier.

"Right away we realized this was something that could really transform South El Monte, and the whole corridor ... and we knew to do this we would have to get all the cities affected by the route on board," said South El Monte City Councilman Joseph Gonzales. He is the chair of the SR-60 Coalition of Cities.

The El Monte City Council voted last month to pitch in $10,000 to fund a design and engineering feasibility plan. And the other cities also are pitching in for a consultant to walk the coalition through the environmental and political process, according to South El Monte City Manager Tony Ybarra.

Transit officials are considering two very different routes for a future extension of the Gold Line East. One would take the light rail up the 60 Freeway through Monterey Park, Rosemead and South El Monte to the edge of Industry. The other would take the line through Montebello and Whittier.

"We have many people in the area who don't have quality transportation alternatives," said Ybarra, making the case for the 60 Freeway route. "There are a number of housing developments along the route and if we can get this transportation, we can really reduce the number of cars on the road. We can also get students to Rio Hondo College, East Los Angeles College."

Metro has released contradictory information regarding the potential ridership and cost of the 60 route, Gonzales said, so the coalition is attempting to determine potential ridership. Gonzales added that the route could attract weekend riders visiting Whittier Narrows.

And each city in the coalition is working with the Southern California Association of Governments to determine potential residential and mixed-use development along the corridor, Gonzales said.

Though the route would not pass directly through El Monte, officials say their city also stands to benefit.

"It will benefit our residents to have it nearby. It won't benefit us at all if it is in Whittier," El Monte Mayor Andre Quintero said.

"This is an extraordinary extension and we need to have it nearby," Councilwoman Patricia Wallach said.

El Monte officials hope to build a connection between the light rail line and the El Monte bus station. Officials have placed high hopes on expansion of that bus station into a mixed-use development, the El Monte Transit Center.

"It's all part of a bigger puzzle that is 10, 20, 30 years out, but we have got to start thinking now," Councilman Juventino "J" Gomez said. "We really need to be more aggressive than we have been."

The east side of the Gold Line was recently extended from Union Station through Boyle Heights to Monterey Park, just south of the 60 Freeway.

There is funding for another extension through Measure R, the half-cent sales tax approved by voters last year. However, it is not scheduled to be completed until 2037.

Staff Writer Dan Abendschein contributed to this story.

rebecca.kimitch@sgvn.com

626-962-8811, ext. 2105