Los Angeles Mayor-elect Nithya Raman is poised to gain substantial influence over regional transportation through her Metro board seat and three mayoral appointments, with major projects affecting Bel Air and Holmby Hills still taking shape.

Raman, who defeated Mayor Karen Bass in the Nov. 3 election, inherits a transit portfolio headlined by the Sepulveda Transit Corridor, a nearly 13-mile underground subway that would burrow as deep as 500 feet beneath the Santa Monica Mountains and Bel Air, the Los Angeles Times reported. She also campaigned on fixing the stalled $3.3 billion LAX Skylink people mover.

As chair of Metro's 13-member board, Raman will also get three appointees. She can replace the current mayoral appointees, Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky and Imelda Padilla and community advocate Jaqueline Dupont-Walker, all of whom backed Bass, according to the Times.

The Sepulveda line

The Metro board unanimously approved the Sepulveda Transit Corridor in January, selecting an all-underground heavy rail route connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Westside in under 20 minutes, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported. The route would run from the Van Nuys Metrolink Station to the Expo/Sepulveda E Line station, with seven planned stops including Sherman Oaks and UCLA's campus.

The line would pass deep beneath Bel Air and Beverly Crest. Metro officials said the deep-tunnel design avoids surface disruption and minimizes noise and vibration at ground level.

The project carries an estimated price tag of $20 billion to $25 billion, up from the $6 billion to $13 billion anticipated when voters approved Measure M funding in 2016, according to the Daily Press. Metro officials said additional state and federal funding will be needed. The opening timeline remains uncertain; initial plans aimed for 2033, then slipped to 2035 and 2038, and Metro has not set a firm date for the newly adopted route.

Some Bel Air homeowners have opposed tunneling beneath their properties, voicing concerns about unknown impacts, according to Fox LA. Metro pledged outreach to address residents' questions as engineering progresses. No public statement from Raman specifically addressing those homeowner concerns appears in the available record.

The I-405 carries roughly 400,000 daily car trips over the Santa Monica Mountains. Metro officials said they anticipate the line could remove about a quarter of those drivers from their cars.

Raman has named the troubled Skylink people mover at LAX a first-week priority. The 2.25-mile train, designed to carry passengers between airline terminals and ground transportation, is years behind schedule and more than $1 billion over its original $1.9 billion construction budget, the Times reported in October.

The contractor, LAX Integrated Express Solutions (LINXS), blamed unsigned agreements between Los Angeles World Airports and the Department of Water and Power, along with technical issues. Four "arc blasts" during testing in September damaged the train's power rail and guide beam, according to an Oct. 8 report to the project's lenders.

At a news conference near the airport before the election, Raman said her first-week priority would be to convene airport, DWP and contractor officials to determine who is responsible for each unresolved issue.

"Taxpayers deserve an advocate at the negotiating table, not another bill for someone else's failure," Raman said, according to the Times.

Broader transit agenda

Juan Matute, deputy director of UCLA's Institute of Transportation Studies, said the combination of Raman's election and a voter-approved charter amendment allowing the City Council to disband the Public Works Board will lead to "a shift in the foundation of transportation decision-making."

Michael Schneider of Streets for All, a transit advocacy nonprofit, said he expects Raman to convene a task force on the Skylink project during her first 100 days. He also said it is likely she will direct city departments to implement Measure HLA, a voter-approved street safety measure, and may initiate a bond or tax increase for sidewalk repairs and street improvements.

Raman told the Times in a pre-election statement that her transit priorities would focus on safety, affordability and reliability. She also said she plans to reinstate a project team in the mayor's office to eliminate city delays on major capital projects and to make permanent the priority bus lane network being developed for the 2028 Olympics.

The D Line subway extension, meanwhile, opened its first phase on May 8, linking downtown Los Angeles to Beverly Hills by rail. Sections 2 and 3, which would extend service to Century City and Westwood, are targeted for spring and fall 2027.