MTA Lists Land Needs for Busway

At least six homes, about two dozen businesses and one religious center would need to be acquired through eminent domain by the MTA to build a proposed 14-mile, east-west busway across the San Fernando Valley, according to a long-awaited environmental impact report released Monday.

The report, issued by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, also said that the preferred route for the busway still follows Burbank and Chandler boulevards along the railroad right of way from Warner Center in Woodland Hills to the North Hollywood subway station. That route has been opposed by a vocal neighborhood group.

“Some [businesses], starting roughly at Fulton Avenue and moving west, have to be acquired,” said county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a member of the MTA board of directors.

The MTA staff prefers the Burbank-Chandler route because, he said, “it is more direct and it’s fastest from the engineers’ point of view. . . . But public officials have to factor in the human impact,” he said.

Yaroslavsky said he would wait until public hearings before voicing support for his preferred route.

The $285-million, 26-foot-wide busway would be a vital link in the region’s transit system, state and local officials said.

Buses, using two lanes reserved for them, could travel across the Valley in 30 minutes, stopping at 13 stations along the way, the report said. By comparison, the study estimated that it takes 55 minutes to make the same trip with current bus services traveling city streets.

Once busway passengers reached North Hollywood, they could transfer to the Metro Red Line subway to continue to downtown Los Angeles, which would take another 30 minutes, the report stated.

On a bad freeway day, that translates to passengers getting from the Warner Center to downtown in an hour.

The proposed busway would have little or no effect on the areas through which it would pass and “would be compatible with the historic transportation uses of [the] corridor and neighborhood character,” the report says.

Noise and safety are the top concerns by both the transit agency and opponents.

To reduce noise, which the study says could pose “potentially significant” problems for nearby residents, the report suggests the installation of sound walls along segments of the busway and the use of quiet buses.

The Concerned Citizens Transit Coalition, whose members include the Orthodox Jewish community along the east end of the bus route, cited concern for at least 14 schools and nine retirement and health care facilities along the way.

“We’re still steadfastly against it,” said M. Fritz Friedman, a coalition member.

Safety issues could be mitigated by improving crosswalks and traffic signals as well as consulting with school officials to ensure student walk routes and access for passenger cars and school buses, the report stated.

Opponents prefer a route that starts at the North Hollywood subway station and goes north on Lankershim Boulevard, then west across Oxnard Street, which Friedman said would be cheaper because it would use existing streets.

But MTA and other officials said the best route is along the Burbank-Chandler right of way because the transit agency already owns that property.

Burbank-Chandler “is the most direct route,” said Valley businessman Allen M. Lawrence, chairman of the California Transportation Commission. “It will ultimately save time rather than rerouting the bus up Lankershim and then over to Oxnard.”

As the Valley’s population grows, he said, using city streets for a busway will slow the commute as traffic worsens.

Design and construction of the busway--which would include landscaping and a bike path and environmental mitigation--could start in late 2002 and be completed in 2005.

The MTA will hold a series of meetings to address community concerns, with the first scheduled from 5 to 8 p.m. June 21 at the student activities center at Pierce College, 6201 Winnetka Ave., in Woodland Hills.

The second meeting is scheduled from 5 to 8 p.m. June 26 in Monarch Hall in the Associated Student Union Conference Room at Valley College, 5800 Fulton Ave., in Valley Glen.

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Transit Proposal

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is proposing a dedicated

two-lane busway that would run from the Warner Center to the North Hollywood Red Line station. The project, expected to ease traffic congestion, could begin construction in late 2002 and be completed in 2005.

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Station amenities

* Covered platforms

* Benches

* Level boarding

* Park-and-ride lots

* Security lighting

* Bike racks and lockers

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