November 10, 2004
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Rick Jager/Marc Littman
Metro MEDIA RELATIONS
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Public Review Period Extended on Metro's Draft Environmental Impact Report for Proposed New West Los Angeles Transportation Center to December 21

The public review period on Metro's recently released Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) on the proposed new West Los Angeles Transportation Center has been extended from a 45-day review period to a 60-day review period to allow additional public comments on the proposed project. The public will now have until Dec. 21 to comment on the DEIR, which was released for public review on Oct. 21.

The West Los Angeles Transportation Center will be a modern, state-of-the-art Metro bus operating facility for up to 175 clean-fuel, compressed natural gas (CNG) buses that will serve the community and other parts of Central and West Los Angeles.

The new location for the proposed transportation center is a 4.7-acre site on Jefferson Boulevard between Rodeo Road and National Avenue. All access to the center will be from Jefferson with the bulk of the traffic in and out of the facility occurring well before and after rush hours to avoid traffic congestion in the area. The facility will replace Metro's Venice bus operating division.

The DEIR will evaluate a wide range of possible impacts of the proposed facility. These include traffic, noise and air quality, which are the issues that have generated the most questions from the public so far.

Under regulations set by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a public comment period precedes the development of a final EIR that will incorporate comments submitted on the Draft EIR and responses to those comments. Before the project can proceed, the Board of Directors of Metro will review and vote on approval of the Final EIR later this year.

Those interested in reviewing the DEIR can visit their community library or access the document on the web at www.metro.net. Comments need to be received by Dec. 21 and can be mailed to Timothy Lindholm, Project Manager Facilities/Operations, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, Ca 90012 or faxed to 213-922-7136 or emailed to WLATC@Metro.net

METRO-190

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