A MILE TOO SHORT EXTEND GREEN LINE LINK TO LAX, OFFICIALS ADVISE.

Byline: DOUG IRVING Staff Writer

Hoping to find a way for travelers to catch a flight without first having to sit in traffic, officials are lobbying the MTA to pursue funding for a train-to-terminals rail link at LAX.

The money would pay for a long-discussed project to extend the Green Line to Los Angeles International Airport. The line now ends about a mile short of making the connection.

That makes it a ``monument of poor planning,'' a dozen government officials wrote in a letter sent Friday, urging the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to seek funding from the $20 billion in transportation bonds approved by voters last year.

``There's definitely enough there to fund the Green Line if they make it a high priority,'' said Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance.

The letter was signed by a dozen officials including Lieu, state Sens. Mark Ridley-Thomas and Jenny Oropeza, and Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl.

The Green Line runs from Norwalk toward LAX, but then veers south and trundles into Redondo Beach. Completing the spur to the airport would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars, officials said.

``We need to reduce traffic congestion in and around the airport,'' said Rep. Jane Harman, D-El Segundo. ``Connecting the Green Line to the airport would provide the kind of benefit for our region that voters asked for in passing the infrastructure bonds.''

As the most populated and congested county in the state, Los Angeles stands to collect the most from the transportation bonds. But projects such as a Green Line extension will still face competition from other regions across California, each with its own transportation needs.

doug.irving(at)dailybreeze.com

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