Dive Brief:
- The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board agreed this week to move forward on a 14-mile automated subway line in the Sepulveda corridor, one of the most congested and heavily traveled routes in the county.
- The $24 billion project would run north-south from Van Nuys to Santa Monica, with connections to LA Metro’s light rail, subway and transit bus lines, and Metrolink, the region’s commuter railroad.
- The selected project was one of six proposed alternatives, including a monorail, and will be funded through a combination of federal, state and local sources. LA Metro said it is also exploring a public-private partnership.
Dive Insight:
Vehicle travel along the Sepulveda corridor often goes along Interstate 405 or Sepulveda Boulevard, which can take 40 to 80 minutes to drive between Santa Monica and Van Nuys. The proposed subway line would cut that to about 20 minutes, according to LA Metro.
The project also promises to improve air quality and traffic safety in the corridor by replacing car trips with transit rides, according to the transit agency.
LA Metro projects daily ridership over 120,000. At peak times, trains would run every 2.5 minutes. The subway line would be built using a single-bore tunnel to minimize surface disruption.
LA County sales tax measures passed in 2008 and 2016 provide initial funding for the project. “The investment is justified,” Ray Sosa, chief planning officer for LA Metro, wrote in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times. He said the project would allow people to avoid sitting in heavy traffic. “Great cities deserve great transit, and great transit helps make a city great,” he said.
Public comment and L.A. County leaders have supported the project, the Times reported. A draft environmental review was completed last year.
