L.A. Metro Area Transit: What's Next?

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Rail could make a comeback in O.C. with proposed streetcar line

The Orange County Transportation Authority and the cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove are finalizing plans for a $250-million streetcar line that would connect the heart of Santa Ana — the county seat — to a new regional transit hub in Garden Grove.

Environmental reports are done, and the project recently qualified for coveted federal funding status that could provide half the money needed for construction.

The four-mile route would run from the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center along Santa Ana Boulevard through the city's resurgent downtown and the Santa Ana Civic Center, filled with court facilities and county government offices. Not far from the planned line are Santa Ana College and the Orange County School of the Arts.

After more than two miles, the proposed line would turn northwest along an old right-of-way used in an earlier era by Pacific Electric trolleys. That route was purchased and preserved by OCTA. The route would end at Westminster Avenue and Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove, where a new transit center is planned.

A short loop off the main line would serve Santa Ana's historic 4th Street, a revitalized area that includes shopping, an artists village and a thriving restaurant scene.

Planners say the system would have 12 stops, connect with 18 bus routes and feed commuters to Amtrak and Metrolink trains stopping at the Santa Ana station. The fare would probably be $2 one-way and $5 for a day pass. Officials expect more than 6,000 riders a day by 2035.

http://www.latimes.com/local/orangec...512-story.html

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TRANSPORTATION: Plans for toll lanes move forward in S.B. County

San Bernardino County’s regional transportation agency wants to widen busy stretches of Interstate 10 and Interstate 15, and officials would rely on revenue from toll lanes to pay part of the construction. If approved, they would be the county’s first freeway toll lanes.

Plans also call for toll lanes on a 33-mile stretch of I-10 from near the Los Angeles County line to Redlands. Officials also are considering carpool lanes as an alternative to toll lanes along much of the same route, although they have indicated a preference for the toll option.

Cost estimates are $550 million for the carpool option and $1.5 billion for toll lanes.

Toll lanes also are proposed along the I-15 from the 60 near the Riverside County line to U.S. Route 395 in Hesperia.

Construction on the two freeways isn’t expected to start for several years. Toll lanes wouldn’t open for nearly a decade.

http://www.pe.com/articles/toll-7673...es-county.html

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New 6th Street Viaduct is a bridge to a different future

Three years later, Maltzan's sketch is a $428-million public works project for the city of Los Angeles. It is expected to open in 2019.

Demolition begins this summer. The city is making intersection improvements to improve traffic flow in the Arts District and in Boyle Heights for the 13,000 daily drivers who will no longer be able to take this route.

An estimated 48,000 cubic yards of concrete, 1,245 tons of structural steel and 4,200 tons of rebar will be hauled away as construction begins on the replacement.

http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...601-story.html

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Newport Beach considers trolley service to transport beach crowds

Newport Beach is looking into a trolley-style service that could move visitors and locals around the often-congested Balboa Peninsula during the busy summer months.

The peninsula is narrow, with a single main road that becomes crowded on hot summer weekends. Beachgoers and shoppers often circle around Balboa Boulevard as they hunt for a parking spot.

In response to a growing desire for public transportation from some residents and business owners, the city in May hired Dan Boyle & Associates, a San Diego-based transportation planning firm, to look into potential routes, cost and the market for a transit service along Balboa Boulevard.

The study, which is expected to be completed by the end of July, will cost about $10,000, according to a proposal from the firm.

Some Orange County beach communities, such as Laguna Beach, have found success in operating similar systems.

Laguna Beach trolleys are free and run along Coast Highway every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from March through June 25.

Dana Point is set to launch its own service this summer.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...527-story.html

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San Gabriel Valley COG recommends tunnel option for 710

“This has been going on for decades. It blows my mind for you to say it is premature,” retorted Alhambra City Councilwoman Barbara Messina, who introduced the successful motion.

Messina said the support for a tolled tunnel is in line with the Southern California Association of Governments, which put the tunnel option into its Regional Transportation Plan in 2012.

“SCAG has the (710) tunnel in their RTP. It meets requirements of the federal government on air quality, mobility and congestion,” Messina told the board. Dissenters said the vote in support of a freeway tunnel would break the SGVCOG in half. Some urged a no position to preserve a unified voice in the region on transportation matters.

Alhambra is a leading force in the 710 Coalition, which calls for “closing the gap” of the freeway that starts in Long Beach and is considered the missing link in the 14 Southern California freeways. Caltrans first proposed the extension in 1959. Other cities in the group include San Marino, Monterey Park, Rosemead and San Gabriel.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/general-ne...option-for-710

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710 Freeway gap economic study says tunnel would produce greatest benefits

Time saved is the most valued factor in the study, followed by cost savings for car owners and savings from fewer car crashes. The report says when commuters use the single-bore tunnel to get from the end of the 710 Freeway in El Sereno at the Alhambra border up to Pasadena at the 134/210 freeway interchange — about 90,000 cars per day — it would divert traffic from nearby surface streets which tend to have higher crash rates than freeways. This saves money, time and calculates into greater benefits.

“The major issue also is that it will open up all the other freeways in the region. It frees up the interchange in downtown Los Angeles,” said Alhambra City Councilwoman Barbara Messina, a freeway tunnel proponent.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/general-ne...atest-benefits

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Santa Ana-to-Garden Grove streetcar project rolls forward
July 13, 2015 Updated July 14, 2015 9:27 a.m.

The prospect of a light-rail streetcar traversing a segment of the county’s urban core took another step forward Monday when the county transportation board approved a framework agreement with the city of Santa Ana.

Under the agreement, the Orange County Transportation Authority will bear responsibility for the construction, maintenance and operation of the estimated $250 million Santa Ana-to-Garden-Grove rail line.

The four-mile, hop-on, hop-off service would carry commuters, shoppers and tourists on a dozen stops to the county seat, jobs and entertainment. It’s expected to open in 2019.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/s...ject-city.html

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On 91 Freeway, a $2-billion effort to keep up with increasing traffic

The OCTA, working with Caltrans and the Riverside County Transportation Commission, has committed more than $360 million for 23 miles of lane additions along various parts of the 91 between Interstate 5 and the Riverside County line. About half the lanes are finished. The others will be done in 2016 and 2018.

The OCTA, Caltrans and the Transportation Corridor Agencies in Irvine also are planning a $180-million flyover to better connect the 91 and 241 toll road through northeastern Orange County. Officials say the project is designed to end the long back-ups of traffic on the eastbound 91 at the tollway ramp.

In addition, the Riverside Transit Agency and the OCTA have added express bus routes along the 91. The Metrolink commuter railroad, which serves six Southern California counties, also added service to its Inland Empire-Orange County line.

Caltrans officials said the completion of a widening project on the 91 between the 55 Freeway and the 241 toll road helped to reduce the delay experienced by all motorists from 5,169,147 hours a year in 2010 to 3,657,120 in 2011, or 29%.

In 2012, preliminary Caltrans figures show the amount of annual delay dropped an additional 12%. The latest available data from early 2014 shows, however, that the amount of time wasted in traffic per year because of congestion is on the rise.

He said, however, he expects that the ongoing construction to improve the 91 through Corona will relieve some of the congestion after it is finished.

The $1.4-billion project, which is between the Riverside-Orange county line and Interstate 15, will extend the tolled Express Lanes into Riverside County, add a lane in each direction of the 91, improve six interchanges and rebuild the interchange of the 15 and 91. The work is scheduled to be finished in early 2017.

http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...804-story.html

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Metrolink plans to buy state-of-the-art locomotives

To overcome a surge in locomotive breakdowns that delay passengers, the Metrolink commuter railroad plans to spend about $200 million for some of the most sophisticated low-emission engines available.

Rail officials want to buy 29 so-called Tier 4 locomotives — powerful, fuel-efficient vehicles designed to slash potentially harmful releases of nitrogen oxide and fine particles of diesel exhaust.

Metrolink is set to take delivery of its first locomotive in December and the rest next year. When it does, the railroad that serves about 41,200 daily riders from six Southern California counties will become the first passenger line in the nation to operate the state-of-the-art engines.

http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...901-story.html

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Trolley system coming to The Village at Westfield Topanga

Turns out that The Village at Westfield Topanga has more going for it than hip dining joints and retailers. Something going to it.

The $350 million lifestyle destination, which opens Sept. 18, is getting its own mass transit system that will serve the Warner Center area, at least in a small way.

The final routes are still being determined and at first the shuttles will be primarily used to move people among the three malls.

“Getting (people) between Topanga and The Village is about cross shopping of the two properties,” he said.

The free trolleys — unique in the Valley for a mall — will make it easier for people to visit the complex of more than 300 stores and restaurants.

Westfield has a broader vision though and is working on a plan to initially have the trolleys pick up office workers at various Warner Center locations to shuttle them to The Village and back during lunch hours.

Eventually they could go to apartment and condominium complexes on weekends to take residents to and from the malls.

http://www.dailynews.com/article/201...NEWS/150909837

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Eyeing L.A.'s Olympic bid, Metro seeks to accelerate two rail projects

Citing L.A.'s quest to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles County transportation officials are seeking to fast-track two of Metro's most anticipated rail projects.

In letters sent Tuesday and obtained by The Times, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority formally asked to join a Federal Transit Administration pilot program that could accelerate construction on a subway to the Westside and a rail connection to Los Angeles International Airport.

With federal approval, Metro would follow an "extremely aggressive" schedule to finish the Purple Line subway extension and the LAX train station and people-mover by 2024, Metro Chief Executive Phillip Washington wrote.

The $2.3-billion Purple Line will connect downtown with West Los Angeles. Construction is currently planned in phases: first, from its current terminus in Koreatown to Mid-Wilshire, slated for 2024; then, to Century City in 2025; and finally to the Department of Veterans Affairs' campus in West L.A. in 2036.

The accelerated plan would see concurrent construction on all three phases. Finishing the project a decade ahead of schedule would "reduce construction costs, reduce construction impacts to dense urban centers, and expedite transportation benefits to the region," Washington wrote.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...909-story.html

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Ventura County sees a sales tax hike as a fix for transportation problems

Local officials hope to change that in 2016. Encouraged by recent opinion polling, they are exploring a ballot measure for the November election that would impose a small sales tax that could raise an additional $1 billion to $2 billion for transportation projects.

"It's desperately needed," said Keith Millhouse, a Moorpark city councilman and Ventura County transportation commissioner. "I'm disappointed that we have not had one before." Voters had a chance to approve a similar tax in 2004, "but that measure did not pass."

Should next year's transportation proposal win the required two-thirds majority, high on the list of projects are widenings of the 101 and State Route 118, better known as the Ronald Reagan Freeway. The 118 runs east from Saticoy in Ventura County to Lake View Terrace in Los Angeles.

The largest project involves the 101 at an estimated cost of $800 million to $900 million. The proposal would add a lane in each direction along 28 miles through the urban heart of Ventura County.

With an estimated cost of $150 million, the 118 is a much simpler project. Depending on the location, one and two lanes would be added to eight miles of the highway between Simi Valley and Moorpark.

http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...915-story.html

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A big congratulations to the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, which today announced the substantial completion of construction of the 11.5-mile project that extends the Gold Line from eastern Pasadena to the Azusa/Glendora border. ‘Substantial completion’ means the project is ready for use with only a few small tasks — basically clean-up items — to be done.

The Construction Authority is the independent agency charged with building the project. With construction basically done, the Authority will begin the process of handing over the project to Metro. In turn, Metro can then begin pre-revenue service — i.e. further testing and employee training. We don’t have an opening date yet, but Metro has budgeted for the project to open in the first half of 2016.

http://thesource.metro.net/2015/09/2...ill-extension/

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Extending Measure R for nearly two more decades, and adding a new sales tax with a lifespan of at least 40 years, could raise $120 billion in new revenue, according to agency projections.

A poll conducted earlier this year and funded by Metro suggests that more than two-thirds of county residents would support such a measure. Nearly two-thirds of poll respondents said improvements to streets or freeways were their top priority. About one-fourth preferred light-rail and bus projects.

Here are five projects that Metro has studied and could be included in such a ballot measure. The project list will be finalized in six to nine months.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...007-story.html

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I-405 toll policies taking shape
Oct. 12, 2015 Updated 8:28 p.m.

Toll policies on I-405 would largely mirror those on the 91 Express Lanes under a set of scenarios the Orange County Transportation Authority board agreed to Monday.

The 13-3 vote came as the agency weighs how to charge for the use of express lanes that will be built in both directions between Costa Mesa and Long Beach. The $1.7 billion expansion, set to begin in 2018, will also add north- and southbound general purpose lanes.

Toll scenarios approved Monday include 50 percent discounts and free travel in the express lanes for vehicles with three or more people. Two-person carpools would pay the full toll during peak hours under three of the four scenarios.

Tolls would be paid via a transponder, and cash payment would not be an option. Prices would vary based on the time of day, but specific prices weren’t discussed.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/a...anes-toll.html

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Garcetti strongly backs rail line to eastern edge of L.A. County

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Thursday strongly endorsed extending light rail service to the far inland edge of L.A. County.

“I completely support the Gold Line going further east,” the mayor told reporters following a downtown press conference. “Getting out to Claremont is incredibly important to me."

The comments came as Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials announced that an 11.5-mile, $957-million addition to the San Gabriel Valley section of the Gold Line, from Pasadena to Azusa, will begin carrying passengers March 5.

http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...021-story.html

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Gold Line to Azusa to open March 5

http://thesource.metro.net/2015/10/2...ill-extension/

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TRANSPORTATION: Testing starts on new Metrolink line
The activity is a prelude to start of Metrolink passenger service on the Perris Valley Line late this year.

Officials say the $248-million Perris Valley Line will begin operation in late December. The extension of Metrolink's 91 Line will include four new stations in Hunter Park (Riverside), Moreno Valley/March Field, Downtown Perris and South Perris.

http://www.pe.com/articles/perris-785212-new-line.html

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