Orange Line extension approved

The MTA board on Thursday approved plans to move ahead with a $225 million, four-mile extension of the Orange Line busway, linking the San Fernando Valley's commuter bus with the Chatsworth Metrolink station. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

Construction should begin by June over a railroad right- of-way owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority along Canoga Avenue. Expected to be completed by 2013, it will include a $28 million bridge spanning 2,000 feet over Lassen Street and the railroad tracks and will end in the Metrolink parking lot.

The busway extension was one of four major transit projects given the green light to advance to their next phases Thursday by the board. The Orange Line and the other projects are funded by Measure R, the half-percent sales tax voters approved in November to cover mass-transit projects in the city.