The Metro Board of Directors on Thursday are scheduled to consider moving a key Measure R project — a connection to LAX — into the draft environmental study phase.
Metro staff earlier this year finished the project’s Alternatives Analysis and held public workshops this spring to explain the project alternatives being considered. Staff are proposing that the four alternatives on the following slides in the draft study based on the analysis and consultation with Los Angeles World Airports.
A trio of other notes:
•Metro staff have proposed renaming the project the “Airport Metro Connector” instead of the current “Green Line to LAX.” The reason: the project, as the slides show, could take different forms and could serve passengers from both the Metro Green Line and the Crenshaw/LAX Line.
•Measure R sets aside $200 million in sales tax revenues for the project, meaning that extra funding would need to be secured to build some of the alternatives below. Under the Measure R funding plan, the project would be completed in 2028 but it could be done earlier if funds are identified to accelerate the construction of Measure R transit projects and if funding from other sources can be identified and committed.
•Los Angeles World Airports is studying a pair of transportation projects — both involving people movers — in its Master Plan, and is re-examining them and some other projects in a study to update the Master Plan. It should be noted that the airport’s and Metro’s environmental studies are coordinating with one another and efforts could be combined in the future.
Here are the four alternatives that Metro staff are recommending to move forward:
A Power Point presentation on the Alternatives Analysis findings is posted after the jump and a pdf copy can be downloaded. Here is the Metro staff report to the Board and here is an earlier Source post on the community workshops held in March.
Metro Connector to LAX Alt Analysis
Isn’t the current set-up (G shuttle) a form of BRT as it is practiced in North America? So shouldn’t the 4th alternative be considered a no-build one?
Good to see this project moving forward, and I think they selected the right set of alternates to study.
In my opinion, the direct LRT branch should include the northern curve where it connects to the Crenshaw Line (shown dotted). This way, both the Green and the Crenshaw lines can theoretically include the airport. This would become even more important if the Sepulveda pass line is built as light rail and ever continued down towards the airport (where it could meet up with the tracks here). That’s one of the major strengths of the Trunk route and I think it can apply to the Branch as well.
Erik, the difference is that the BRT option would include an elevated busway once you exit the terminal. The current setup is not rapid in any way, it’s just a bus shuttle. The BRT option they plan to study will get the busses out of traffic once it leaves the terminal and into its own right of way.
The information above was interesting; I favor the LRT Branch concept. It has two or three stations in the airport instead of one. Also, I think more people would benefit from the green and crenshaw lines going directly in to the airport area, without having to transfer to a shuttle like is currently happening. If the MTA wants to build a system in to the airport, try to make it as easy as possible for riders.
“The BRT option they plan to study will get the busses out of traffic once it leaves the terminal and into its own right of way”. Then Steve, why does the PowerPoint warn of severe congestion impacting the BRT (5-10 minutes!)?
The modified LRT trunk forces everyone to divert under LAX, when most of the passengers are going elsewhere. Won’t that depress ridership? Plus how appealing is it for air travellers (and airport employees) to face being dumped at a single stop in the middle of the horseshoe, far from any terminal? Direct LRT looks similarly unappealing.
Why does APM (People Mover) only have three stops in the airport? AFAIK having a stops between the domestic terminals plus one at Bradley international is just the sort of thing it is designed for. Yeah travel time will be a bit but the convenience will make it more appealing. After a 20+ year wait we should have something great not a cheap out to gratify the tightwad LAWA technocrats (BRT) or rushed half-measure to fulfill some political agenda (modified LRT). I bet some of the ridership projections of the dubious alternatives will shrink when the short of problems I cite force Metro to concede the initial numbers didn’t account for the full range of factors that impact the actual potential use.
And of course the big mystery factor is how cooperative (or not) LAWA will be.
Dana, that is to account for the fact that the bus will run in normal traffic within the terminal area. When the loop is full of traffic, the bus will be sitting in that. It only has its own, elevated right of way outside of the terminal area (the thick red line on the diagram).
There’s no reason why the APM circulator shouldn’t stop more often, and also serve all of the rental car companies at a consolidated rental car center, similar to many other airports. Getting rid of all the rental car shuttles would greatly improve circulation at LAX.
I’m trying to get my head around the concept that option 1 (rail loop) is cheaper than option 2 (people mover). Aren’t people-movers lighter and smaller? I sort of assumed that they came as a prefab kit.
Busway == waste of money. The other options, well, I can see something to be said for all of them. An APM with access to a consolidated rental car center would probably be best, but it doesn’t seem to be proposed.
BRT is by far the worst option on the table and should be thrown out. Why would we want something that will just sit in the same traffic mess that the current shuttle buses in the terminal loop do? How is that supposed to attract ridership and qualify as part of a world class airport? Barring that, IMO the best of the 3 good options (non-traffic, smooth ride) would be the people mover option so that automated frequencies of no less than every couple minutes would be possible. If not that option, then I would say the direct LRT branch would be the next preferred mode. The problem with the modified LRT trunk is that it eliminates the possibility for terminal to terminal connections within the airport.