The Metro Goldline Gets Support from Member of Congress

The future of the Metro Goldline rail continues to be uncertain following the latest back and forth between members of the United States Congress and the MTA Executive Management Committee. Three members of Congress- Judy Chu, Adam Schiff, Grace Napolitano- recently sent a letter to the MTA regarding Measure R, a half-cent tax currently being collected to fund the Foothill Extension to Claremont.

However, unless action is taken, the revenues currently being collected will fall short and the completion of the Goldline rail will be up in the air. Currently, the MTA has allocated $735 million of the funds collected through Measure R towards the Claremont extension. However, there would still be an additional $764 million needed in order to complete a regional rail system.

Now the issue is persuading the MTA to put an issue on the ballot this year allowing Measure R to be permanent (the current measure was voted in by the public) and then using the now permanent revenue source to fund the completion of the Goldline project. However, the MTA thus far has been resistant to allocating more funds to the regional rail project. The MTA is responsible for administering the funding for all the rail projects in California and is in the unenviable position of having to use ever diminishing federal resources to tackle an overwhelming amount of projects. The MTA has already hinted that instead of allowing more federal resources to go to the Goldline rail project, they will instead focus on Los Angeles-based subway projects.