New timelines for Wilshire bus lane project

Source: http://thesource.metro.net/2011/12/05/timelines-for-wilshire-bus-lane-project/

When we last checked in with the Wilshire rush hour bus lane project, the completion date that we posted was 2013. But Danna Gabbard at L.A. Streetsblog had a post Friday saying that the completion date for the project is now 2015.

The project will put 7.7 miles of rush hour bus lanes on portions of Wilshire Boulevard in the city of Los Angeles, from Brentwood to just west of downtown Los Angeles. The idea — and I think it’s a good one — is to speed up bus service on Wilshire, which is Metro’s busiest bus corridor.

Metro helped plan the project with the city and Los Angeles County. The city of Los Angeles is taking the lead on constructing the project, which involves pavement reconstruction, some street widenings along Wilshire and updating the traffic signal system, among other upgrades. From an Oct. 9 city report:

Extensive roadway improvements on Wilshire Boulevard, including curb lane reconstruction and selective street widening, will be done before the bus lanes are installed. Design and engineering is scheduled to be completed by June 2013, followed by construction of roadway
improvements, traffic mitigation measures, Transit Priority System upgrades, and bus lane striping and signage. The project is expected to be completed and operational by June 2015.

A spokesman for the city’s transportation agency told Streetsblog that the city will try to finish the work earlier than 2015. One obvious question this raises: will the bus lanes project be under construction at the same time that construction for the first leg of the Westside Subway Extension is getting underway?

Answer: It remains to be seen. The subway project is on track to have its environmental impact studies approved in early 2012. At that point, we should have a better idea of funding and the construction timeline for the first segment, which is supposed to go to Fairfax.

On an unrelated note, Streetsblog also reported that the new Silver Line station at Union Station – here’s a good rendering — will be completed in 2015. That is incorrect. The ExpressLanes project on the San Bernardino Freeway and El Monte Busway is still scheduled to open in 2013, with the Silver Line station scheduled for a 2014 opening, according to Metro staff.

Wilshire Bus-Only Lane Needs Full Environmental Review After All (Source: Streetsblog Los Angeles)

Link: Streetsblog Los Angeles » Wilshire Bus-Only Lane Needs Full Environmental Review After All

Thursday, September 3, 2009 19 Comments
Wilshire Bus-Only Lane Needs Full Environmental Review After All

by Damien Newton on September 3, 2009

Googiesque/Flickr

When we last checked-in on the status of the proposed bus-only lanes for Wilshire Boulevard, Metro staff was conducting outreach needed before the project could receive it's environmental clearance. At the time, staff hoped it would be completing the needed studies in the next couple of months. However, they're now estimating that, at best, the studies won't be completed until June of 2010.

Next Wednesday, the City Council Transportation Committee will hear a request from LADOT to fund the city's half of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the bus-only lanes project. The hearing could prove interesting because the bus only lane, runs through the heart of the districts of both the new Committee Chairman, Bill Rosendahl, and new Vice Chairman Paul Koretz. While Rosendahl has stated support for the project in the past; Koretz has been more vague and has certainly been lobbied by residents in affluent parts of his district opposed to the project.

According to the report for prepared for next week's hearing, there are two reasons that the bus-only plan will require EIR and not the shorter studies originally recommended and already completed.

...a number of intersections along the Wilshire Boulevard and parallel streets would experience traffic impacts that could not be mitigated to a level of insignificance. In addition, public outreach in November of 2008 indicated both strong support throughout the corridor and strong opposition in several communities. Based on these findings, staff at Metro and DOT determined that an EIR should be prepared for CEQA clearance.

In other words, the Wilshire bus-only lanes, a project that might have seemed a virtual lock a year ago might be in some trouble because of car traffic concerns. At the very least it now faces more obstacles to overcome than it did in 2008. In addition to needing a green light from an environmental standpoint, the project will need to survive another alternatives analysis and another round of public outreach in some areas where a bus only lane instead of street parking is a scary proposition to local residents.

The public hearings will be scheduled soon for late this month or early in October. Since I most likely won't be able to attend, anyone interested in reporting from the meeting should contact me at damien@streetsblog.org.