Ventura Boulevard Subway
The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission voted recently to build three rail lines in Los Angeles County, including one across the eastern San Fernando Valley, over the next 11 years.
Commissioners also voted to study the option to build the subway under Ventura Boulevard in lieu of a route along the Southern Pacific Burbank branch.
It is a wise decision considering the following facts:
Ridership. The RTD presently operates 70 buses along Ventura Boulevard carrying 70,000 passengers per day, the second highest ridership sector in the city. The highest projected ridership of the proposed alternatives is 48,900 average-weekday trips.
Impact on the business community. If a rail line were built along the Southern Pacific Burbank branch, RTD would be required to take most, if not all, of its buses out of service along that route, an action that will definitely affect businesses along the boulevard.
Funding sources available. The RTD is now negotiating multimillion-dollar joint development ventures at some stations of the first leg of Metro Rail. These developments will provide revenue sources for the district, and at the same time will help to offset the cost of construction. This innovative source of funding would not be possible if the Southern Pacific Burbank branch were built. Additional cost savings will also result because there will be no need to purchase the expensive real estate along the right of way.
It is also important to consider that a Ventura Boulevard rail line will facilitate a bus-rail interface between the north-south bus lines and the east-west rail line. Finally, by locating a rail system along Ventura Boulevard, it will place into motion land use patterns directing commercial development away from existing residential areas, and into designated “urban centers.”
We should therefore reconsider whether the rail tracks should run below Ventura Boulevard in the commercial core of the Valley or through residential areas just because there is right of way land available.
NICK PATSAOURAS
Tarzana
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