LOS ANGELES, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A subway link from downtown Los Angeles to the city's traffic-snarled Westside was approved to run under the city's famed Wilshire Boulevard, officials said.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hailed the 10-0 decision by the County Metropolitan Transportation Authority as "historic," the Los Angeles Times reported.
"We've been discussing the subway for 50 years, one way or the other," Villaraigosa, a vocal advocate for building the so-called subway to the sea, said. "People said it wouldn't happen. Now, the only question is when".
Construction would begin in 2013 after an environmental impact review.
"This is a big moment," Genevieve Giuliano, director of USC's METRANS Transportation Center, said. "A subway is the single biggest item on the transit construction list, and this is the single busiest corridor in the entire region. If there should be a subway anywhere, it should be there".
The $5.15 billion project will be paid for by a combination of federal funds and a half-cent sales tax for transportation approved by voters in 2008 just before the global recession hit, the Times said.
UPI
