Rep. Brad Sherman jumps into debate over proposed Metro tunnels in Bel Air

Rep. Brad Sherman has stepped into the heated debate over what kind of rail service should be built through the Sepulveda Pass connecting San Fernando Valley with the Westside: an underground subway or an aerial monorail?

Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, wrote a letter last month urging LA Metro to address constituent concerns about its Sepulveda Pass Transit Project, asking it to demonstrate how a subway could be built without tunnels beneath homes in Bel Air, “since the community there is fairly united against a subway going under the homes,” his letter stated.

Sherman was reelected on Nov. 8 in a reshaped district that includes Bel Air. Bel Air Association leaders praised his letter as reflecting their strong opposition to subway tunnels in the hilly and affluent bedroom community in Los Angeles just west of the 405 Freeway.

“Brad knows of Bel Air’s opposition to Metro’s poorly thought out consideration of building a mind boggling expensive and potentially dangerous subway under our community,” wrote Jamie Meyer, president of Bel Air Association on the group’s website. Meyer added that the homeowner group “looks forward to working with our new congressman, Brad Sherman!”

Fred Rosen, who sits on the Bel Air Association Metro Committee and is a member Keep Bel Air Beautiful, said in an interview Monday, Dec. 12 that the two groups oppose the subway for several reasons.

“A monorail going down the 405 is a better solution than a tunnel under residential communities,” he said.

About the only certainties for this project are the two end points. The proposed transit line would end at the Metrolink/Amtrak station at Van Nuys Boulevard and Saticoy Street on the north, and the line would end on the south at the Metro E (formerly Exposition) light-rail line that runs from Santa Monica to Downtown L.A.

Ideas on what kind of line it should be vary from an aerial Disneyesque monorail to an underground subway — or a mixture of the two.

In agreements signed with LA Metro, the monorail concept planned by LA SkyRail Express, with an aerial line built on the 405 Freeway median and most stations located on the freeway’s shoulder, was projected to cost $6.1 billion. Travelers would get from San Fernando Valley to the Westside in 24 minutes.

Meanwhile, Sepulveda Transit Corridor Partners, which includes Bechtel, Meridiam Infrastructure and American Triple I Partners, puts the cost of its proposed project at $10.8 billion. It would move passengers from the Valley to the Westside in 15 to 20 minutes.

Sherman’s letter says Metro should further investigate and share information about the cost, the construction timing, and the speed of a ride from the Valley to the Westside, along with “resiliency” of a subway, especially in an earthquake.

Finally, he asked whether UCLA would consider a people mover instead of a subway station, since students probably wouldn’t ride the subway, he wrote. The monorail option includes a people mover to UCLA, but not a subway stop.

These are all major issues raised by Bel Air Association in opposition to the subway option. Instead, the group favors a monorail that would run on aerial concrete supports, and most likely along the median of the 405 Freeway.

His letter set off social media pushback from those who see a full-fledged subway, connecting the two sides of the Santa Monica Mountains, as the best option in terms of connectivity, speed, and convenience.

“People look at this letter and say I am leaning in this direction or that direction. I am not,” Congressman Sherman said in an interview on Monday, Dec. 12. “I’ve been fighting for rail through Sepulveda Pass for decades. I’m not trying to kill it.”

Both in the letter and interview, Sherman did not take a position.

“I can’t support anything until I get community input and more information about speed, cost and convenience. All we have now is little maps with lines on them. How can you evaluate that?” he said.

Metro has held several meetings and is moving ahead with drafting environmental documents. On the table are six configurations, with Alternatives 1-3 mostly monorail, and Alternatives 3-6 heavy rail. The six alternatives are:

Alternative 1: (15.3 miles) Monorail with aerial alignment on 405 corridor and electric bus connection to UCLA.

Alternative 2: (15.8 miles) Monorail with aerial alignment on 405 corridor and aerial automated people mover connection to UCLA.

Alternative 3: (16.2 miles) Monorail with aerial alignment on 405 corridor and underground alignment between Getty Center and Wilshire Boulevard. This would allow for an underground station at UCLA.

Alternative 4: (14 miles) Heavy rail with underground alignment south of Ventura Boulevard and aerial alignment generally along Sepulveda Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley, with four aerial stations.

Alternative 5: (14 miles) Heavy rail with underground alignment including along Sepulveda Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.

Alternative 6: (12.6 miles) Heavy rail with underground alignment including along Van Nuys Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley and a southern terminus station on Bundy Drive.

In June, Metro released a broad brush tally of public views and priorities in a “scoping report” on the massive project that would move people between two heavily populated regions of L.A. without getting into a car. Over 400,000 people travel the 405 and its nearby surface streets each weekday and 98% of them are in cars.

Based on 3,122 comments from homeowner groups, environmentalists, elected officials and others, 93% want tunneling and just 7% want a monorail.

A survey of 1,032 residents taken from July 20 to Aug. 24, 2022 and released on Dec. 7, 2022, found that 70% preferred or are fine with a rail line underground and about one-half preferred or were fine with rail that primarily runs on elevated tracks above streets and the 405 freeway.

Those who preferred the rail line said that it would take 15 minutes to ride end to end, and not require closing lanes on the 405 during construction. Those who favored an elevated rail line said they liked the ability to see outside during the ride.

Sherman asked Metro to look into “earth tremors” and made comments similar to those of Rosen in Bel Air. “We have earthquakes. If you have the Big One, it will affect everybody,” he said.

According to Metro, subway tunnels in Los Angeles County and are safe for both the rider and those living above them. The A (Blue) Line, the L (Gold) Line and the recently opened K (Crenshaw) Line are mostly light-rail and at-grade, but some sections run beneath residential properties.

In the next year or so, Metro will open two new lines that are completely underground: the regional connector between Little Tokyo and Bunker Hill, and nine miles of the D (Purple) Line under Wilshire Boulevard from Wilshire and Western to Westwood.

Most tunnels are built 50-70 feet underground. Some tunnels under hills and mountains are more than 100 feet below the surface, Metro reported.

The agency reported that its train tunnels are below single-family and multi-family residences, as well as parks, schools and performance venues. “We do not receive noise or vibration complaints from those above the tunnels,” Metro reported. “Property owners have also been able to construct projects above our tunnels and stations.”

Jean-Philippe Avouac, geology professor at Caltech, was quoted in a 2019 media report at lacurbed.com saying that during an earthquake it’s safer to be underground than above ground. “Structures which are underground are less vulnerable to shaking than structures at the surface,” he told the transportation site.