Metro could fund projects

GLENDALE — The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors will decide next week whether to approve more than $5 million in transportation funds that have been set aside for Glendale.

The board is slated to vote on July 26, on a proposed budget that would commit $2.1 million for a state-of-the-art railroad crossing at Grandview Avenue and San Fernando Road, $1.5 million for six new Beeline buses and $1.5 million for streetlight technology upgrades in northern Glendale, said Heather Hills, the authority's director of long range planning.

The funds are part of a $450-million pot that the transportation authority made available in a year-long call for projects that drew 407 requests from municipalities around the county, Hills said.

Transportation authority staff members are recommending that the board fund 169 projects, including three in Glendale, she said.

The city of Glendale submitted four project requests, including a joint project with the cities of Pasadena and Burbank to enhance bus stops in the three cities that transportation authority staff members are not recommending for approval, city Traffic Administrator Jano Baghdanian said.

But otherwise, Glendale scored handsomely, said Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian, who sits on the transportation authority board.

"We were able to score and be awarded in several different areas," Najarian said.

But transportation authority rules call for projects to include a minimum local match, which means the city will have to pitch in, too. For the three recommended projects, the city has committed $3.8 million, according to an transportation authority staff report.

All three projects are city priorities, Baghdanian said.

The proposed at-grade crossing at Grandview Avenue and San Fernando Road would add upgraded safety components that would alert motorists to oncoming trains before it was in plain view, Baghdanian said.

The proposed crossing is part of the city's larger effort to improve all six of its at-grade crossings, he said. Construction of the crossing would take two years, he said.

The $1.5 million slated for streetlight improvements in northern Glendale would connect Montrose and La Crescenta with the city's central Traffic Management Center by laying new fiber optic communication cables, Baghdanian said.

"All signals in downtown connect to a centralized computer system, that allows us to monitor time signals," he said.

The Montrose and La Crescenta portions of Glendale are connected to the city's centralized system, but the connection is slower and has limited capabilities, he said.

Another $1.5 million has been allotted for six 40-foot Beeline buses that would run on compressed natural gas.

The six vehicles are among the 23 buses that the city plans to purchase in the next two years to replace older ones, Baghdanian said.

Though the projects are subject to final board approval, the board has rarely made major alterations to staff's recommendations in the past, Hills said.

The recommendations are the result of a more than three month internal evaluation that scores each application based on factors like the applicant's local match commitment and the regional importance of the project, she said.

"We've really polished and perfected the process," Hills said.