Link: Major expansion of north Pomona Metrolink station planned - DailyBulletin.com
Major expansion of north Pomona Metrolink station planned
Monica Rodriguez, Staff Writer
Created: 07/28/2009 05:39:36 PM PDT
POMONA - Improvements costing about $10.5 million are being planned for the north Pomona Metrolink station.
The improvements involve lengthening and widening the station's platform, upgrading safety features and improving parking facilities, a Metrolink representative told City Council members recently.
Plans call for the project to be awarded to a contractor by the end of this year, said Darrell Maxey, director of engineering and construction for Metrolink.
The expansion of the platform will make it possible for the station to accommodate longer trains, Maxey said.
The current platform is 14 feet wide and 500 feet long and should be 23 feet and 700 feet, he said at the meeting.
The platform at the Metrolink station in north Pomona is 500 feet long, but agency officials say it now is obsolete. A $10.5 million improvement plan for the station would include extending the platform by 200 feet. (Thomas R. Cordova/Staff Photographer)
built in 1992, "met the standards at the time," Maxey said.
Safety features such as four gates, fencing and other improvements at pedestrian crossings will also be added, Maxey said.
A station parking lot now holds 225 vehicles but so many people are using the facility that commuters are parking in neighboring streets, he said.
About 100 extra parking spaces are needed.
To expanding parking, Metrolink will use existing property to create additional parking space, he said. Equipment and storage on the site will be moved to free up the space.
Several steps must be taken before the improvement project can move forward including signing an agreement with Metro, formerly known as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is providing funding for the project, Maxey said.
The improvements also require approval by Public Utilities Commission and the city, he said.
The project is expected to take about 15 months.
City administrators said the area around the station is expected to draw attention as a place for transit-oriented development.
The area will have the Gold Line Foothill extension coming through at a future date, said Mark Lazzaretto, the city's community development director.
"We're looking at capitalizing on that," he said.
Plans call for the next phase of the Gold Line, from Pasadena to Azusa to be completed by 2013 and from Azusa to Montclair to be ready by 2017.
Lazzaretto said as part of updating the city's general plan, land use in the area around the station will be studied.
Much of the land in the area is now used for industrial purposes but changes could be made to accommodate housing and retail businesses.
Such land use changes would result in developments that appeal to people interested in increasing their use of public transportation, Lazzaretto said.
Some people may want to live in the city and use public transportation to reach jobs in other cities while others may live elsewhere and take a train to their jobs in Pomona.
Councilman Steve Atchley said he is trying to create the conditions necessary to have a Foothill Transit bus stop on Garey Avenue near the north Pomona station.
Bus stops now exist on Garey Avenue and Foothill Boulevard and at Garey and Arrow Highway.
"That's terribly inconvenient" for anyone trying to catch the Metrolink train, he said.
Steps are being taken leading to the addition of a traffic light in that area which will make it possible to have a bus stop there, Atchley said.
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