VALLEY TRANSIT GAINING SPEED SCAG OKS PLAN FOR BUSWAY, CAR-POOL PROJECTS.Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer Funding for San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. transportation projects - including a new east-west busway, a north-south rapid bus route and car-pool lanes on the Golden State Freeway The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. - moved ahead with approval of a regionwide transportation plan, officials said Wednesday. The Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Association of Governments announced approval of the $25 billion 2002 Regional Transportation Improvement Plan, which outlines spending for a six-county region through 2007-08. ``It's an important step in the process in assuring Southern California's short-term transportation priorities are adequately funded for construction,'' SCAG scag - To destroy the data on a disk, either by corrupting the file system or by causing media damage. Compare scrog, roach. spokesman Jeff Lustgarten said. SCAG prepares the regional plan from a wish-list submitted by transit representatives in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , Ventura, San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. , Orange, Riverside, and Imperial counties. The regional plans are updated every two years and are part of the agency's ongoing long-range planning process. The Valley-area projects were among the items requested by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The new east-west busway received $315 million - most of the money needed to build the $325 million route that is expected to open in 2005, said the MTA's transportation program manager, Douglas Kim Douglas Kim (born November 10, 1983 in Yonkers, New York)[1] is a Korean-American poker player and 2006 economics graduate of Duke University. Kim learned poker through a home game in college and through posting as 'technologic' on the internet forum hosted by Two Plus . The line is planned to run down Chandler, Burbank and Victory boulevards, linking the North Hollywood Metro station to Warner Center, with buses running along exclusive lanes. Funds for the east-west busway came from the governor's one-time $6.5 billion allotment for congestion-relief projects, as well as the county's half-cent sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. under Proposition C, officials said. A new north-south bus route through the Valley also won $100 million for initial design and engineering work and to help buy rights-of-way in commercial areas, Kim said. The SCAG plan also includes $400 million to build car-pool lanes along the Golden State Freeway, from the Antelope Valley to the Ventura (134) freeways. Planners have hoped to build that project all at once, with construction beginning in 2003-04 and expected to be done by 2007-08. In Ventura County, the plan includes funds for widening the 23 Freeway from four to six lanes between Thousand Oaks and Moorpark. Initial concerns that SCAG's plan would violate air quality criteria in the Mojave Desert area have been satisfied, said Lustgarten. Most projects are funded through a combination of state, federal and local funds. Federal regulations require regional planning agencies, like SCAG, to set an area's transportation plans. ``I think what's important about SCAG's action is, if SCAG didn't approve our priorities, they wouldn't be a reality,'' said the MTA's Kim. The plan now goes to state and federal authorities for approval. |
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