Impasse derails L Line addition
Legislators do not include funds to continue light rail to Montclair
A push for state funding that would have extended the L.A. Metro light-rail line into San Bernardino County has gone off the rails, leaving disappointed supporters to try again next year.
Legislators and city leaders from Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley and western San Bernardino County had asked since June for a slice of a $76.7 billion state budget surplus as gap funding to build the line another 3.3 miles from Po
mona to Montclair.
However, budget trailer bills that would have carved out money for several transportation projects — including a $540 million request to extend the L Line, formerly the Gold Line, that originates in Los Angeles — never materialized Friday, the last day a bill can be passed in the state Legislature, lawmakers said.
“The Senate, Assembly and the governor’s office did not come to agreement on transportation with the clock ticking,” said state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Unforeseen haggling over this transportation trailer bill didn’t allow us to park it in the station.”
He said Thursday any additional spending on transportation has been delayed until January when the Legislature returns.
Assemblyman Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, who championed the effort, said he was disappointed that it could not be worked out, but he holds out hope for 2022.
“The money is still there,” Holden said Thursday. “There are still opportunities to step in and make a deal happen. The Gold Line is still in the mix.”
Holden said the L Line extension funding, as well as other transportation projects, were lumped in with future spending on the controversial Bay Areato-Los Angeles high-speed rail project.
“There was not enough time to resolve an impasse between the Legislature and governor over highspeed rail,” Holden said in an email.
Claremont City Councilman Ed Reece said the L Line extension bill suffered by being attached to the controversial highspeed rail, which did not get enough yes votes, killing the entire bill.
“It (L Line extension) wasn’t looked at independently and that added more complexity,” Reece said Thursday.
The result? Any funding bill for extension of the electric-powered L Line will have to wait until next year, and nothing is certain, given the disputes that arose in the Capitol in the past few weeks. Other issues, such as COVID-19 relief and the gubernatorial recall election, also were distractions, Holden said.
The lack of a funding bill has numerous repercussions for the 12.3-mile, $2.16 billion Glendorato-Montclair extension, which is currently being constructed to Pomona because higher costs prevented build-out to Montclair, creating the funding gap. However, a contract awarded to Kiewit-Parsons in 2019 included an option with a locked-in price to build to Montclair. But that option expires Oct. 7.
Since that deadline will be missed, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority must halt construction at Pomona. If money is received next year, the authority will send out new requests for proposals for the Pomona-to-Montclair section of the project, a process that will take 15 months to 18 months, CEO Habib Balian said.
Instead of finishing in Montclair by 2026, the project would be completed in late 2027 or early 2028, assuming funding is allocated, Balian said. Also, the project most likely will cost between $150 million and $200 million more due to higher labor and material costs, Balian estimated, upping the ask of the state Legislature as high as $740 million.
At one point, Gov. Gavin Newsom had set aside about $1.3 billion of the surplus for transportation projects in Los Angeles County. That may have to increase, Holden said.
“I feel like the project is more jeopardized now,” Montclair Mayor John Dutrey said.
Holden said he believes the extension could be tied to the Olympic Games coming to Los Angeles in 2028. People from San Bernardino County and eastern L.A. County could ride the light-rail to see events.
Without the extension moving forward, construction crews can finish a year early. The leg from Glendora to Pomona will be completed by early 2025, not 2026, and could be operating six months later, Balian said.
“That gets transit out there (to Pomona) sooner,” he said.
Tim Sandoval, mayor of Pomona, said he’s pleased the people of Pomona soon will have two train options, existing Metrolink commuter rail and the L Line.
“I am excited it is coming to Pomona,” he said Thursday. “But there is more work to be done.”