RIVERSIDE – (INT) – State Senator Richard Roth has brokered an agreement that will extend Metrolink service to Perris.

Environmental issues between the Riverside County Transportation Commission and the Friends of Riverside Hills had deadlocked the project in court.

As part of the settlement, the RCTC has agreed to contribute funding for additional soundproofing of homes in the neighborhjoods behind UC Riverside, acquisition of additional habitat and funding recreational trail development in the Box Springs area. The value of these improvements is over two and a half million dollars.

Roth said Wednesday he told both sides that he was to ‘unstick’ the project in which $75 million in federal construction funds were in danger of being lost. Roth said it was money and jobs the region could not afford to lose.

Roth thanked those involved for working together to make the local regional a better place to live.

Story Date: July 16, 2013