Southern California Transit Advocates: Committtees

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Southern California Transit Advocates is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, development and improvement of public transportation in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

SO.CA.TA comments on Metro Long Range Transportation Plan

Southern California Transit Advocates submitted a statement of support for the projects listed in the Metro Long Range Transportation Plan.

Southern California Transit Advocates would like to submit the following comments on the 2008 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). We are in basic agreement with most of the projects and their rankings in the LRTP, and will note only our exceptions to that agreement.

We believe that the Burbank/Glendale Light Rail project has not received sufficient study to qualify it for inclusion in the Tier 1 Strategic Unfunded project list. We suggest that this project be moved to Tier 2.

We similarly believe that the West Santa Ana Branch ROW Corridor Maglev project requires a significant amount of additional study before it would qualify as a Tier 1 project and we suggest that it also be moved to Tier 2.

However, we also believe that the I-405 Corridor Busway project listed under Tier 2 Strategic Unfunded has been significantly studied under the Metro Connections project and we note that the San Fernando Valley and Westside/Central service sector governance councils last year put forward a joint motion for expediting an express bus service on the northern half of this corridor. We therefore suggest that this now qualifies as a Tier 1 project, especially as the remaining HOV lanes on I-405 are already in the constrained plan and will be open within the next two years.

In noting the significant number of carpool lanes in both the constrained and strategic portions of the LRTP, we suggest that as gaps in the HOV lane network are filled, the opportunity exists for additional express bus service and we urge that feasibility studies on same be undertaken as the completion dates for these projects grow closer.