The Metro Board of Directors meets for its regular monthly meeting on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at Metro HQ adjacent to Union Station in DTLA. As always, the public is welcome to attend or you can watch/listen on the webstream. A webstream link will appear here once the meeting begins.
A few items of interestingness the Board will consider:
•The names of the five stations that will be in L.A. County for the Foothill Gold Line Extension project. They are — drumroll — Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne/Fairplex, Pomona North and Claremont. San Bernardino officials will pick the name of the Montclair station. Staff report.
•Advancing two concepts for the Vermont Bus Rapid Transit project into the next study phase, the formal environmental review. One concept would buses running on the side of the street and the other would be a combo of side-running and down the middle of the street. A feasibility study of a rail alternative has been completed and found that — not surprisingly — rail would have significant funding challenges at this time and that BRT can be built more quickly and meet ridership demand for the time being. Staff report
•The Board will hear oral updates on the NextGen Bus Study to restructure Metro’s bus system and the New Blue project that is currently modernizing the Blue Line. NextGen presentation
•Approving free Metro rides on Earth Day, which is Monday, April 22. Metro did this last year as a way to recognize that generally speaking taking transit instead of driving alone is a good way to cut down on smog and greenhouse gases. Staff report
•Increasing the design life-of-budget for the I-210 Barrier Replacement Project from $11.4 million to $22.5 million. This is the project that will raise the barriers between the Gold Line and the 210 freeway. There have been 10 accidents on the freeway over the years that have resulted in cars or trucks ending up on the Gold Line tracks and/or damaging rail equipment. The staff report has some good info on the challenges of this very important safety project.
Categories: Policy & Funding, Projects