Subway Board approves bus rapid transit via North Hollywood, Burbank, Glendale, Eagle Rock and Pasadena – Streetsblog Los Angeles

The controversial saga of the planning process for the North Hollywood Bus Rapid Transit Line to Pasadena (NoHo-Pasadena BRT) has finally come to a difficult conclusion. At its meeting this morning, the Metro Board certified the project plan (Environmental Impact Report – EIR). The final design of the NoHo-Pasadena BRT across downtown Eagle Rock’s Colorado Boulevard includes a bus-only lane, a protected bike lane, on-street parking, and a car-only lane, all in each direction . Metro’s Eagle Rock plan is largely based on the community design proposal called Beautiful Boulevard.

Metro’s planned NoHo-Pasadena BRT will be a new 22-station bus route approximately 18 miles long covering four cities: Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and Los Angeles. In 2016, voters approved Metro’s Measure M sales tax plan that allocates $267 million to the BRT line, which was then slated to open in 2020.

In Eagle Rock and Burbank, the project has come under criticism over the proposed bus lanes. At Eagle Rock, naysayers said Metro planned to make traffic jams. Eagle Rock transit supporters garnered broad community support for the Beautiful Boulevard proposal that balances road space between multiple modes. Metro quickly incorporated nearly all of the community plan into its project plans, which were eventually supported by local LA City Council member Kevin de León.

Today, the council heard over an hour of public comment, which favored BRT by a ratio of about three to two.

The BRT article [staff report] received unanimous support from Metro’s board, many of whom held the project up as a model for additional BRT lines to follow.

There are still many more steps before Angelenos will see the benefits of greatly improved transit service between the B/G line terminus in North Hollywood and the L line stations in Pasadena. Metro will work with the four cities in the corridor to finalize designs and permits, then launch the project before construction begins.