Los Angeles County voters approved (67 percent – Yes; 33 percent – No) a half-cent sales-tax increase, expected to raise as much as $40 billion, for area infrastructure projects.

Measure R, which barely passed the two-thirds threshold needed for approval, could fund the city’s “Subway to the Sea.” However, the money to begin the subterranean route – probably along the Wilshire corridor – will not be available until sometime between 2013 and 2015.