OCEANSIDE —— A two-year wait ended Thursday as the state finally awarded $80 million to complete financing for the Sprinter light-rail line.

Karen King, executive director of the North County Transit District, said she received word midway through the district's monthly board meeting Thursday that the California Transportation Commission had approved the allocation, which represents nearly one quarter of the Sprinter's $375 million budget. The balance of the Sprinter's financing comes from a $150 million federal grant and San Diego County's one-cent transportation sales tax, TransNet.

"It is the very best news we've had in a very long time. It will allow us to retire the debt and it will allow us to move the construction forward on schedule," King said.

The $80 million was first promised to the transit district under California's "Transportation Congestion Relief Program." However, faced with severe budget shortfalls in 2003, then-Gov. Gray Davis suspended the program, leaving projects such as the Sprinter with a gaping financial hole. After voters ousted Davis in a recall in 2003 and elected actor Arnold Schwarzenegger governor, the funds remained on hold, but were finally released in the state's current budget approved in July.

Determined to continue with the 22-mile project, the transit district issued $114 million in bonds, to be repaid with future revenue from TransNet.

But, with the $80 million finally allocated by the state, King said it will be possible to pay off most of the bonds quickly.

"This is about the best case scenario that we could have imagined," King said.

She added that the district, which has already started building the Sprinter, has not yet had to spend any of the bond money.

"That money has been invested and is getting interest and that will help pay for the (interest and finance) cost of the bond," King said.

She said she was surprised that the state transportation commission forked over the entire $80 million in one vote.

"We thought that the state would probably allocate the money over a number of years," King said.

Toward the end of Thursday's district meeting, alternate board member Shari Mackin of Oceanside asked the board to consider paying the $500,000 it will take to replace a private railroad crossing that serves the Cavalier Mobile Estates mobile-home park in Oceanside.

Mackin appealed to board members' sense of social justice, noting that the park's owner planned to pass the cost of replacing the crossing on to the elderly residents who live in the park.

"I'd like you to take a few minutes to think about the families and how seriously it's going to impact them," Mackin said.

Mackin asked the board to put the matter on the district's September agenda for consideration. Chairman Jerome Stocks of Encinitas said the board's Governance Committee will consider adding the agenda item at its Aug. 31 meeting.

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.