State OKs funds for San Gabriel crossing
By Fred Ortega, Staff Writer
SAN GABRIEL – Drivers contending with freight traffic that has snarled downtown San Gabriel for decades saw light at the end of the tunnel Thursday. A state agency approved more than a quarter-billion dollars to divert a busy rail line below ground through the city.
The $337 million approved by the state for the Alameda Corridor East Construction Authority will be used to extend a below-grade trench through the heart of San Gabriel, providing relief for long-suffering commuters along Ramona Street, Mission Road, Del Mar Avenue and San Gabriel Boulevard.
It is the largest award given to a single goods-movement project in the state from the Proposition 1B transportation bond, approved by voters in November 2006, authority officials said.
The half-billion dollar project will involve construction of the trench and overpasses at those four main thoroughfares.
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