CONGRESSMEN ASK FOR VALLEY ROAD PROJECTS CAR-POOL LANE, BIKEWAY ON LIST.

Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - A bikeway in Burbank, a car-pool lane in the Sepulveda Pass and buses for San Fernando were on the wish lists of local lawmakers as they made their pitches Tuesday for allocations from $30 billion in federal transportation money.

Reps. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys; Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena; and Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, made joint and individual funding requests during testimony before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Berman called the Sepulveda Pass a major bottleneck in Los Angeles County's transportation network, with an average daily volume of more than 330,000 vehicles.

Berman and Sherman each asked the panel to approve $2.28 billion to help build a northbound car-pool lane on the San Diego Freeway between the Santa Monica Freeway and the U.S. 101 stretch of the Ventura Freeway. A southbound car-pool lane in the Sepulveda Pass, also built with federal assistance, was competed in 2002.

The Valley Democrats also joined forces to request $161 million for car-pool lanes in both directions on the Golden State Freeway, between the Highway 134 segment of the Ventura Freeway and the Highway 170 portion of the Hollywood Freeway.

Schiff made pitches for an $8 million study of a proposed tunnel under South Pasadena that could finally link the Long Beach and Foothill freeways.

The local requests face plenty of competition. Steve Hansen, spokesman for the Transportation Committee, said the 435 House members have filed more than 5,300 funding requests for local and regional projects.

While the total proposed transportation budget for 2003-04 is $375 billion, 92 percent of that amount is allotted by set federal grants and formulas. Eight percent, $30 billion, is divided up by Congress for local and regional projects.

Thomas A. Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington-based watchdog group, called the annual House transportation dollar derby ``a form of legalized bribery; the leaders say if you vote with us, you can get more projects.''

Sherman defended the role of House members in determining local needs and bringing home transportation dollars, and he noted that the car-pool projects are also top priorities for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Berman and Sherman also seek as-yet undetermined amounts of federal money to improve access to the Hansen Dam Recreation Area; landscaping for the East-West San Fernando Valley Rapid Bus Transit Way; upgrades for the 101 Freeway on- and off-ramps at Hayvenhurst Avenue; improvements to the South San Fernando Valley Regional Park and Ride lot and to Califa Street in Van Nuys; buses and trolleys for the city of San Fernando; and safer facilities for pedestrians on Laurel Canyon and Victory boulevards in North Hollywood.