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Arcadia Weekly Dec 09, 2009
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After years of searching for funding for the project, the Goldline Authority has secured money to begin the extension of the rail line to Azusa in June of 2010.
The extension will travel from Sierra Madre Villa station in Pasadena to Citrus College in Azusa.
The funding will come from Measure R, a half cent sales tax that was passed by voters in November of 2008 and created an earmark of $735 million for transportation projects.
However, the Goldline Authority faced challenges of when the money would come in, and how to divide it over multiple projects.
In the city of Arcadia, the station site will be located at the intersection of First Avenue and Santa Clara Street, said Phil Wray, Assistant Development Services Director and City Engineer for the City of Arcadia.
“It will be a block north of Huntington Drive, what we feel is very close to the heart of the downtown,” Wray said. “It is an ideal location to plan around for the future for compatible uses to help make that an active center.”
The Goldline extension will follow the alignment of an old railroad, which crosses the freeway just west of the Santa Anita Avenue and Baldwin Avenue interchange, he said.
The Goldline Authority plans to construct a bridge at the freeway intersection where the previous railroad bridge once stood in the early 1990s but was removed due to earthquake hazards.
According to Wray, plans for the bridge are underway, and will require cooperation between the Goldline Authority and the state department.
One of the concerns in Arcadia was the grade separation on Santa Anita Avenue that was initially planned at street level with a crossing and gate, Wray said.
After concerns of the traffic and delays it would cause on Santa Anita Avenue, the city put an initiative together to raise $8 million, in addition to the $5 million set aside for the bridge, to fund a the separation.
“A lot is going to be happening over the next six months and we have got a lot of work to do to make sure we protect the interests of our citizens,” Wray said. “Our staff will be spending a lot of time on it.”
City of Monrovia officials said they are very excited about the fact that the project is moving forward.
“We’re planning a lot of development in that area,” said Public Information Office Dick Singer. “It doesn’t depend on the Goldline but it is going to be enhanced by the Goldline. Both the transportation and economic development benefits are very exciting.”
Singer said the greatest challenge was from the city of Los Angeles, who wanted to use as much money as possible from Measure R to fund a subway from Wilshire Boulevard to the ocean.
“That’s been our greatest competition,” Singer said. “It looks now that we have an agreement, and that we can get both of them built.”
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