Potholes seen ahead for Valley's transit plans.

Ground may have been broken January 17 on the EastWest Valley busway project, but that doesn't necessarily mean the funding needed to complete it remains secure.

Some, but not all of the $145 million in state funding for the project has come through Gov. Gray Davis' Transportation Congestion Relief Program (TCRP), and, with the state now projecting a $34 billion shortfall, the TCRP program is said to be on the governor's chopping block.

Davis' budget proposal calls for all TCRP funds not yet spent to be transferred back to the state's general fund to help fill the budget gap. If his budget plan is adopted, Cal-Trans would then begin reviewing transit project proposals across the state, and, if any TCRP monies are freed up, they will go to those with the highest priority.

Valley transit leaders say they believe funding for the East-West project will be protected because some money has already been released, but the timeline for releasing the funds is in question, as are prospects for receiving other TCRP funds promised for Valley transit projects.

"This is exactly what we were talking about," said former Assemblyman Richard Katz, co-founder of the San Fernando Valley Transit Strike Force created in 2001 to secure state funds for local projects. "We anticipated the need to get funding in place for Valley projects in advance of some kind of state emergency, and here we are."

Initially $245 million of TCRP funds were earmarked specifically for the San Fernando Valley Transit Extension Project, which included the $145 million for the East-West bus system that would run from North Hollywood to Warner Center. The project was slated for completion by 2005.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority has allocated $185 million of its own money for the project, according to David Yale, the agency's director of regional programming. But of the $145 million expected from the state, only about $9.3 million has been spent so far.

"I don't know if it or the remaining balance is totally safe because Cal-Trans has indicated that they want to look at unspent funds and make sure those projects on the table are indeed a priority," Yale said. "So this balance of about $98 million is what we are concerned about."

Katz and Yale both expressed confidence that the funds for the East-West project would be released because the governor has already deemed that project one of the state's most important.

But the fact that the strike force finds itself having to reiterate the need for the busway speaks to the necessity fur local advocacy, Katz said.

"I don't see a big threat," said Katz.

Nonetheless, the balance of the extension project funds also remains in question. According to Yale, $100 million in TCRP funds have been programmed for a North-South busway project, but only $2 million of that has actually been set aside. There is no MTA funding for that project, and, because it is in the early design and planning stages with none of the funding yet spent, it is among the state's most vulnerable.

"I don't know where the funding for the North-South plan is at right now," said David Grannis, president of Pasadena-based Planning Company Associates and the chief consultant for the strike force. "I do know that the predominant amount of the money needed to fund it is TCRP money, and we have that on our list as a priority, but we don't know what is going to happen to unspent TCRP funds yet."

Although roughly $90 million in other TCRP funds did come through for the new northbound carpool lane project along the Sepulveda Pass on the San Diego (405) Freeway, another $50 million in funding for a three-phase plan to put in carpool lanes along the Golden State (5), the Hollywood (170) and Antelope Valley (114) freeways remains in question.

"Clearly the budget issue is compounding the problem of getting money flowing because now the money that was supposed to be guaranteed by the TCRP isn't there," said Grannis.

How much statewide?

"About $2 billion, is my guess," said Grannis.

According to Dennis Trujillo, spokesman for Cal-Trans, every TCRP project will have an opportunity to compete for funding, but each would be decided on a case-by-case basis.