High-speed rail officials prepare for review of Burbank-to-L.A. section
The state high-speed rail project has been slowly making its way down to Southern California, and officials Monday evening reassured the public it is moving forward.
Representatives with the California High-Speed Rail Authority hosted an open house at the Buena Vista Branch Library in Burbank and told attendees the draft environmental impact report for the proposed Burbank-to-Los Angeles segment of the project is expected to be ready for public review in May.
Once the environmental documents are released, the public will have 45 days to review them and make comments on various topics relating to this segment of the project, which includes traffic, noise, air quality and vibration.
The public will be able to submit their comments to the High-Speed Rail Authority online, mail and at an upcoming public hearing that has yet to be scheduled.
The approximately 14-mile route from Burbank to Los Angeles has not changed much since its 2018 proposal.
As it moves south, the bullet train is proposed to arrive in Burbank from Palmdale via a proprietary underground railway and will continue to travel below ground until reaching the Empire Center.
The electric locomotive will then surface to the roadway and proceed toward Los Angeles Union Station alongside Metrolink’s Ventura County line until meeting with the Antelope Valley line.
The Burbank station as proposed would lie roughly underneath the Avion Burbank business park currently under construction and near the Hollywood Burbank Airport’s replacement terminal at the northeast quadrant of the airfield.
Plans for the railway in 2016 and 2017 provided an option for the train to travel at grade level along Metrolink’s Antelope Valley line north of the airport for the entirety of the 14-mile stretch, but project manager Diane Ricard said the preferred route selected by the High-Speed Rail Authority called for the tracks and station to be closer to the Hollywood Burbank Airport.
“The change was made for intermodal connectivity,” she said. “There are two Metrolink stations within the vicinity of the airport, so it would be beneficial to residents, air passengers and workers.”
The proposed Burbank-to-Los Angeles route also involves a mixture of roadway undercrossings and overcrossings in several areas. The grade separations would be at Buena Vista Street in Burbank; Sonora Avenue, Grandview Avenue, Flower Street and Goodwin Avenue in Glendale; and Main Street in Los Angeles.
There are seven other train crossings that the High-Speed Rail Authority is planning to modify to accommodate the bullet train.
Additionally, there are three crossings in Glendale — Doran Street, Sperry Street and Broadway/Brazil Street — that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is addressing and which the bullet train plans to use.
While high-speed rail officials remain optimistic about the project moving forward, Burbank resident Roel Kuiper has conflicting thoughts.
While he sees the benefits of having a transportation system capable of linking Northern and Southern California together, Kuiper said it is difficult to support a project that costs billions of dollars and has been delayed multiple times.
In February, the High-Speed Rail Authority estimated the overall cost of completing the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system to be $80 billion, which is higher than its 2012 estimate of $68 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like they’re going to bring in the project at a reasonable budget,” Kuiper said. “It’s a massive project and you have to give them time to do it, but I don’t know if we really need it.”
