TRANSIT TROUBLE AHEAD CAR-POOL LANE ADDITIONS, FREEWAY WIDENING MAY FACE AX.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Staff Writer

WASHINGTON - The three-way battle among the House, Senate and President George W. Bush over funding for the nation's highways could spell trouble for Southern California transit projects, local leaders warn.

Bush wants to hold highway funding to $256 billion over the next six years, while the House is willing to spend $375 billion. The Senate last week approved a $318 billion transit package.

The White House has vowed to veto any bill that includes new taxes or budgetary maneuvers to cover spending above what it has proposed.

``We're in trouble,'' said Bev Perry, president of the Southern California Association of Governments, who headed a coalition of regional leaders that set out Thursday for Capitol Hill to lobby for highway funding.

If Bush's number stands, Los Angeles and Ventura County officials say, it could threaten major local projects like improving commuter rail service, adding freeway car-pool lanes or widening State Route 118 between Simi Valley and Moorpark.

``There clearly isn't going to be enough money to do all these projects,'' said Moorpark Councilman Keith Millhouse, past chairman of the Ventura County Transportation Commission. ``I'm not sure people back in Washington appreciate how central Southern California is to the nation's economy.''

Added MTA board member Beatrice Proo: ``If we don't find some solutions to this quagmire, the economy suffers greatly. Let's see if it can be recognized that what comes through our region has national significance.''

The multiyear law actually expired in September, but extensions are keeping it in place for several more months. In the meantime, the Senate on Thursday approved its version, despite the White House veto threat.

The House is expected to take it up when they return from congressional recess Jan. 23, but a final funding agreement between the two bodies is not expected before July.

In Los Angeles County, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority counts on about $500 million annually from the federal spending bill.

Tops on the MTA's priority list this year is the construction of the Eastside light-rail line from Union Station to East Los Angeles. The agency hopes to secure a commitment for approximately $490 million over several years toward the $880 million project. That includes $80 million in its first year, and the Bush administration's proposed budget this year includes that amount.

The MTA also is pressing for funds to build car-pool lanes on the northbound San Diego Freeway from the Westside to the San Fernando Valley, as well as along the Golden State Freeway partway through the Valley.

The highway bill also would fund smaller road construction and improvements.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, for example, has requested, among other items, $784,000 to repair pedestrian walkways around California State University, Northridge; $1 million to build the Empire Area Transit Center near the Bob Hope Airport; and $575,000 to build a bikeway on the north bank of the Los Angeles River in Sherman Oaks.

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, meanwhile, has asked for about $14 million in projects, including $6.5 million to widen streets and create a bicycle lane and parking facility near Hansen Dam Recreation Area; $3 million to install an irrigation system along the new Orange Line Rapidway; and $1.3 million to help the city of San Fernando buy a compressed natural gas fueling station for its bus fleet.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, requested about a dozen projects, including a bikeway extension project in Burbank. He did not, however, release the amount of money being sought for his projects.

Reps. Buck McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, and Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, declined to release their lists of transportation requests.

The proposed transportation bills also would change the formula for funding road projects. California still won't get back as much as its residents pay in taxes, but the number could increase from 91 to 95 cents on the dollar.

Federal highway construction is funded through gas taxes and other user fees. In order to reach his $375 billion funding figure, House Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young has backed a 5-cent-a-gallon increase in gas taxes.

But the Bush administration said it will not accept any form of tax increases. Southland Republican lawmakers also object to raising the gas tax.

The Senate's $318 billion package is in part funded by various shifts in the budget. Among them, the Senate has proposed shifting the cost of transportation breaks, like the lower tax for ethanol-blended fuels, from the highway trust fund to the general treasury.

The administration, in turn, has proposed other funding sources like loosening restrictions on how and when tolls on interstate highways could be levied. The White House number is a $9 billion increase over the executive branch's original proposal last spring.

Martin Whitmer, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta's deputy chief of staff, spoke late last week to the Southern California Association of Governments, but did not hold out much hope that the president would budge.

``This is pretty firm,'' Whitmer said.

But John O'Donnell, SCAG's lobbyist in Washington, D.C., held out the possibility that funding levels could expand over the next several months. Coaching local leaders in a conference room overlooking the U.S. Senate as the coalition prepared to meet with lawmakers and Hill staffers, O'Donnell pointed his thumb toward the U.S. Capitol.

``You hear people saying they're drawing a line in the sand,'' he told the group. ``Well, that line over there moves every day.''

Lisa Friedman, [phone]

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com

A PLETHORA OF PLANS

Here are some of the projects on Southern California's wish list for the six-year federal Highway Transportation Reauthorization Bill:

Multicounty projects:

--East-west corridor truckway from ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to Inland Empire distribution centers; $3 billion

--Alameda Corridor East; $1.25 billion

--Metrolink improvements; $177 million

Los Angeles County projects:

--Adding car-pool lane on the San Diego Freeway from Interstate 10 to the Ventura Freeway; $1.6 billion

--Light-rail service linking East L.A. and Union Station; $491 million

--Adding car-pool and traffic lanes to the Golden State Freeway, from Rosemead Boulevard to Orange County line; $471 million.

--Extending light-rail service from downtown L.A. to Robertson/Venice boulevards; $315.6 million

--Car-pool lane improvements on I-5, from the 134 Freeway to the 170 Freeway; $290 million

--Hansen Dam access improvements; $6.5 million

--Glendale, construction of pedestrian bicycle bridge; $4.5 million

--Northridge, Granada Hills and Porter Ranch, street rehabilitation; $3.7 million

--Reseda, Canoga Park and Winnetka, street rehabilitation; $3.2 million

--San Fernando Valley Rapidway irrigation system; $3 million

--Metrolink parking/signage improvements; $2 million

--Burbank, bikeway extension; $1.78 million

--San Fernando, natural gas fueling station; $1.3 million

--Glendale, trolley construction; $1.3 million

--North Hollywood, streetscape improvements at Laurel Canyon and Victory boulevards; $1.2 million

--Sylmar, Lake View Terrace and Mission Hills, street rehabilitation; $1.2 million

--Burbank, Empire Area Transit Center construction; $1 million

--Reseda Boulevard, Rapid Bus Route; $1 million

--California State University, Northridge, walkway repairs; $784,000

--Van Nuys, street rehabilitation; $750,000

--Pierce College, repair of Brahma Drive and Winnetka Avenue; $600,000

--Sherman Oaks, bikeway construction; $575,000

--Mission College, transit center construction; $500,000

--CSUN, propane-powered tram service; $325,000

--Sherman Oaks, street rehabilitation; $214,000

Ventura County Projects:

--State Route 118, freeway widening from Tapo Canyon Road to Route 23; $115 million

--Transportation Management System, installing technology; $20 million

--Port Hueneme, dock, rail yard and road improvements; $17 million

--Piru Rail Bridge restoration; $4 million

Source: Staff research

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A PLETHORA OF PLANS (see text)