Two Bus Rapid Transit Concepts Announced As Part Of SGV Transit Feasibility Study – Streetsblog Los Angeles

San Gabriel Valley Phase 1 Transit Feasibility Study is complete. Community workshops were held on Tuesday to present conceptual routes for bus rapid transit – and other “transit priority corridors” where BRT lanes will not be developed.

These zero-emission bus routes would have priority at traffic lights, use reserved right-of-way lanes, make limited stops at upgraded stations, and offer frequent all-day service in both directions. They would be located in Metro’s”Equity-Driven Communitiesin the lower San Gabriel Valley, which lacks high-quality public transit.

Two alignments are recommended for short-term implementation (within 10 to 15 years): Valley Boulevard and Rosemead Boulevard. To see the red lines below.

bus rapid transit, including the Valley Blvd and Rosemead Blvd concepts.” width=”1228″/>

East-West – Valley Boulevard

Looking at the Valley Blvd route from Union Station to the Pomona Transit Center, one quickly notices that only the middle part of Valley is marked red for dedicated lanes (Phase 1 BRT). West of El Monte is blue (Rapid Bus Priority Corridor) meaning there will be no bus lanes there. On the contrary, this section of the valley could have “express services with fewer stops and higher speeds”.

The technical project manager of the study, Brent Ogden, said this was because Valley Blvd in San Gabriel “is being reconfigured to handle higher levels of automobile traffic.” Planned improvements in this area essentially prevent the conversion of bus lanes […] their goal is to move cars and move trucks.

The Valley Blvd concept was preferred among three potential east-west concepts due to higher projected traffic (in 2042). However, some parts of the other concepts were not entirely abandoned.

West of the El Monte bus station there are options (marked in pink) for the development of bus lanes on the way to the Atlantic station of the Metro Gold Line in East LA (near Monterey Park): either Garvey Avenue to Atlantic Boulevard, or Garvey to Potrero Grande Drive to Pomona Blvd.

To the east, Valley Road climbs to Hacienda Boulevard in the Industry/La Puente neighborhood. It is not yet determined whether the study will ultimately recommend an east-west path from Valley and Hacienda, or several, but there are two options in pink (each route is on either side of the train tracks in City of Industry):

1. The BRT stays on Valley, takes a brief detour down Grand Avenue to Temple Avenue, with stops at Mt. San Antonio College and Cal Poly Pomona, and joins Valley where it becomes Holt Avenue in Pomona, terminating at the Transit Center from Pomona.
2. At Hacienda, the BRT heads south to Colima Road (passing the many malls of Puente Hills and Rowland Heights), then to Golden Springs Drive at Diamond Bar, and back north to Mission Boulevard, ending at Pomona Transit Center.

It should be noted that the working map of the draft vision plan also includes a priority corridor for rapid buses (blue) along the entire length of Amar Road from Bassett to Mt. SAC.

North-South – Rosemead Boulevard

The other red The line on the map is Rosemead Blvd, going a bit north, but mostly south of Garvey. To the north of the valley, however, the concept changes from a dedicated BRT track to a blue “transit priority corridor” extending to the Sierra Madre Villa Gold Line stations. The map shows four other north-south “transit priority corridors” that terminate at Gold Line stations near the foothills of San Gabriel Mountain. At their southern ends, they run to the Gateway Cities, East LA and North OC.

Ogden explained the reason for favoring a short-term BRT project on Rosemead Blvd: “It was by far the most popular service to generate the most ridership, and then it kind of drops off as you go down the road. ‘is. [Santa Anita/Peck] coming in about two-thirds of Rosemead, then maybe 50% of that with Azusa and Citrus-Grand. The reason traffic is lower in the east is that densities are just lower in terms of population, employment […] land use declines in the east.

Subway or Foothill?

Some asked during the workshop how the routes would be broken down by agency. “The Subway service area is basically on the 605, and then the Foothill service area is basically east of the 605.” Ogden said. “So North-South services, we would expect operators to operate the services that fall within their district. For East-West services, cooperation would be necessary. One of the two operators could choose to provide the service and the other could potentially enter into a cost-sharing agreement to provide direct service, or it is even possible that in the short term there will be a transfer of service to El Monte. ”

Funding and cost projection

$635.5 million has been set aside from Measure R for public transit improvements resulting from this study. The SGV Council of Governments website states that “the […] The Transit Feasibility Study was initiated following the Metro Board’s decision in February 2020 to remove the alternative to State Route 60 in the Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 project to extend the Metro L line (Gold ).

Together, the Valley and Rosemead concepts are expected to cost between $615 million and $905 million. This is without counting if several east-west roads are built. Ogden said with the $635 million, “We can definitely do maybe some east-west segments and some north-south segments […] we can certainly afford to develop this type of program in the San Gabriel Valley. See the table below for what is estimated to be within budget.

Comments on the study can be submitted to sgvtransitstudy@sgvcog.org or 888-574-8264

Streetsblog’s coverage in the San Gabriel Valley is supported by Foothill Transit, providing car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to new Gold Line stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines going to the heart from downtown LA To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Go to good places.

Subscribe to our SGV Connect newslettercoming to your inbox on Friday!