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Tunneling and transportation experts found in a preliminary report last week that underground construction for a subway beneath Wilshire Boulevard could be done safely, thanks to improved tunneling and gas-detecting technology.

This finding is the first step toward building a subway to relieve traffic congestion along the Wilshire corridor, which has some of the densest traffic in the nation.

The Red Line subway currently runs from downtown to Western Avenue, but Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials want to extend the route to Santa Monica.

Construction of a Red Line extension would not likely happen within the next 10 years, said UCLA Manager of Transportation Services Sam Corbett. But MTA officials voiced their confidence at a recent meeting that the extension would occur, though they were unsure when, Corbett said.

Corbett added that subway construction along Wilshire would probably not directly affect construction operations on campus.

A subway station in Westwood would likely attract a good deal of commercial development, since businesses would want to catch potential customers waiting for the subway, Corbett said.

But in order to free up federal funding for the extension, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., must first lift legislation that prevents federal funding for the construction of a subway in methane-gas risk zones. Waxman sponsored the law following a 1986 gas explosion in the Fairfax area.

Waxman has said he would consider repealing the law if the panel found that tunneling in the area could be done safely. The MTA is optimistic the results of the preliminary report will open the door to the possibility of a subway in the area, said MTA spokesman Rick Jager.

Even if Waxman lifts the prohibition against federal funding for tunneling, the MTA must still find ways to fund the extension because the 1998 passage of Proposition A prevents local sales tax from being used for the construction of a subway, Jager said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who authored the bill, supports the building of a subway in the West Los Angeles area if it is deemed safe, said his spokesman Joel Bellman.

But Yaroslavsky is not likely to change his position on the use of local sales tax to fund the project because it would be a burden on the local community, Bellman said.

Without local funding, the MTA would likely have to ask the state to split costs with the federal government for subway construction, Bellman said.