By MARC LITTLE

All great cities in history have had great transportation networks that moved people, vehicles, commerce and visitors. It is a necessity to become a great city. Los Angeles has embarked on an expansion of its rail system with an impressive push of its 30/10 plan that proposes leveraging a half-cent tax increase that voters approved with Measure R in 2008. Federal loans secured by that tax measure will allow the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 12 transportation projects in 10 years instead of 30. But all is not equal in the transit corridors of construction and there is a flaw in this rail concept as it relates to safety. 

Specifically, in lower-income areas of the city, the MTA has disregarded federal Department of Transportation standards related to the need for separating rail lines from street traffic at rail crossings. Case in point: The Faithful Central Bible Church recently filed a complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission against the MTA related to the future Crenshaw/LAX project being developed by the MTA.

The MTA plans to install two new active street-level tracks that will run through the middle of the campus and only 70 feet from the Tabernacle – which is the heart of the church and its worship center. The church and its 13,000 members have been an important part of the African-American and L.A. community for decades, and the church counts numerous successful corporate executives, entrepreneurs and community leaders in its membership. But it also has senior citizens and young children in its membership who would be put into danger by this new street-level track.

The inherent problem is that the MTA will run more than 100 trains on average on any given day and they will pass the church in each direction at 35 miles per hour every three minutes. The MTA has disregarded the Transportation Department standards related to the need of separating rail lines from street traffic at rail crossings such as this one. Safety is the paramount issue at the MTA crossings and numerous transportation experts have voiced their opinions on this matter.

Najmedin Meshkati, a professor at the Viterbi School of Engineering at USC and a safety expert, has asserted in media interviews that precautions at a number of crossings along the 7.9-mile MTA route between downtown and the Westside are “woefully inadequate.”

Gus Ubaldi, a railroad engineer at Fournier Robson & Associates of Lancaster, Pa., who has more than 20 years of experience analyzing and working on train projects, said the problem with the MTA solution is that it still puts pedestrians at risk because the tracks are at the same elevation as the street traffic. What makes this location unique – the tracks follow the old Burlington Northern Santa Fe rails that parallel Florence Avenue and cross Eucalyptus Avenue – is that thousands of people, of varying ages and mobility, will be coming in and out of church and be placed in harm’s way.

“According to my estimate it would cost about $7.5 million for MTA to build a 1,250-foot-long open trench, allowing the train to go past the church beneath the street surface and thereby eliminating the safety hazard,” Ubaldi said. “The MTA estimates that it would cost $25 million. Even with that higher cost, it is a small fraction from the billions the MTA plans on spending for the Crenshaw Line to keep people safe.”

Urban Crossroads Inc., a planning and engineering consulting firm in Irvine, conducted a review that was focused primarily on the rail and how it would impact traffic circulation delays. Paul Rodriguez, a principal in the firm, stated: “Grade separated railroad tracks are inherently safer for vehicle and pedestrian safety. The substantial volume of existing pedestrian traffic on North Eucalyptus Avenue suggests that a grade separated rail or pedestrian crossing would be prudent for consideration.”

An extension of the half-percent sales tax for transportation will be on the November ballot and it should raise billions of dollars. Is money the issue for the 1,250-foot trench to be built in the middle of the church campus? Or is it that lower-income neighborhoods and cities do not get the same breaks as Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and the Westside, which are proposing to build portions of their railways underground at a huge cost? All we are asking for is a short trench to alleviate the risk of people getting injured or killed.

This is a disaster in the making because on a typical Sunday, the church hosts an average of 4,000 to 5,000 worshippers at its services, the majority of which must park on the south side of these tracks, while the Tabernacle is located just north of the rail tracks. The church and the city of Inglewood believe the solution is simple: place this short segment of the rail line underground so our members can enjoy a meaningful service and not a dangerous transportation issue.

Marc Little is the chief operating officer and general counsel for the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood.