By HOWARD FINE
Staff Reporter
As crews prepare to start digging the main trench of the $2.4 billion Alameda Corridor, concern is mounting among businesses along the route about potential traffic disruptions and the seizure of property.
The 50-foot-wide, 33-foot-deep trench, which will run underneath Alameda Street from Vernon on the north to the Artesia (91) Freeway on the south, is expected to take two and a half years to build, at a cost of $712 million, and will include 29 bridge overcrossings for street traffic.
It is the main segment of the 20-mile-long Alameda Corridor project, which is intended to speed transit of cargo from the ports to distribution centers near downtown L.A.
Utility relocations have been underway since March along the trench route; in recent weeks, work has begun on train bypass tracks. Actual digging is slated to begin in late August.
“We’re apprehensive about just exactly what’s being planned,” said Dolores Petullo, general manager of the Vernon Chamber of Commerce. “If they work on some of the bridges at the north end of town at the same time that they are digging the main trench, it would essentially landlock us and make us virtually inaccessible.”
Also, Petullo said, there is the issue of where the trains are going to be rerouted during construction.
“We don’t even know where the trains are going to be headed, so it’s hard for us to get the word out on what detours to suggest to people,” she said.
Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority officials overseeing the project acknowledge that businesses will be inconvenienced, but say they are taking steps to minimize the impact.
ACTA Chief Executive James Hankla said the agency plans more detailed mailers to businesses along the route and has also hired an ombudsman to address the concerns of businesses. “This should remove a lot of the mystery that people sense about this project,” he said.
Meanwhile, authority officials say they have acquired or are preparing to acquire portions of 288 parcels along the route. Of those, 28 are takings of complete parcels, affecting 20 active businesses. The acquisitions started two years ago and are expected to finish within the next 18 months to two years, shortly before work wraps up on the trench in early 2002.
At Los Angeles-based Star Industries, a few blocks to the northeast of where the trench work will begin in Vernon, owner Damian Hillseth says ACTA has claimed one-third of his property as right-of-way. He has hired an attorney and is fighting ACTA for more compensation than what the agency has offered him.
“It’s unbelievable what they are doing to me,” Hillseth said. “I’ve got a machinery yard full of equipment that I will no longer be able to store because they’ve taken one-third of my land. I’ve already spent $80,000 out of my own pocket.”
Hillseth said he expects his business to grind to a halt once the construction begins.
“They tell me they are going to put an overpass on one side of my property and an underpass on the other side. While they are doing this, my property will be completely inaccessible. The amount they are offering is not going to come anywhere close to the amount of business I’m going to lose,” he said.
Hankla said he could not address the specifics of Hillseth’s case. However, he did say that ACTA is trying to prevent disputes like this from going to court.
“We hire the best appraisers and try to be very forthcoming. We don’t like to go to court,” Hankla said. “However, there will be cases where we do have value disputes. Everyone who’s affected in these types of projects says they’ve been offered too little. In those cases, we submit our appraisal, they submit theirs, and the rest is up to the courts.”
Hankla has also hired an internal auditor to ensure that the project stays within budget. Last year, a report from the federal General Accounting Office warned that ACTA’s projections might prove to be overly optimistic. Such an enormous project, the report said, is bound to encounter numerous pitfalls and obstacles that could cause delays and increase costs.
But Hankla said his hiring of an internal auditor was not related to this report or any other problems.
“When I came on board last August, I saw that the internal auditor reported to the finance chief. From my experience in Long Beach, I believe it is important that the auditor report directly to the chief executive, especially when dealing with huge projects the size of the Alameda Corridor.”
Hankla acknowledged that ACTA’s projections were optimistic.
“Yes, they are optimistic. But I believe we can and will meet them,” he said. “We have built in a penalty of $200,000 for Tudor-Saliba, our contractor, for every day they run beyond the Valentine’s Day 2002 deadline.”
