. . . SAYS BILL BOYARSKY ON LA OBSERVED

As mid morning traffic on I-405 built up, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stood amid the construction work on the Mulholland Bridge Thursday and celebrated his biggest accomplishment, congressional approval of the America Fast Forward program, which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in a weak economy by speeding up transit and highway projects. At his side was Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., largely responsible for getting the measure through a Congress stalemated on most everything else.

Although most of the news media and the local political community have treated this effort with great indifference, approval of America Fast Forward is one of the most important transportation developments in recent local history. READ MORE AT LA OBSERVED.