A new “light rail on wheels” promises to cutcommuters time on bus routesthrough the county’s busiest corridors from Los Feliz to South Los Angeles by as much as 17 minutes.
Preconstruction work will soon get started on the new Vermont Avenue Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), per a notice fromLA Metro.
The project involves installing a 12-mile stretch along the roadway from Sunset Boulevard to 120th St by altering the existing road to allow for dedicated BRT lanes, per Metro.
The dedicated BRT lanes will use the “travel lane adjacent to the parking lane in each direction,” so as to not disturb parking for business in the area.
The BRT lanes will allow the buses to “move through the corridor faster and more reliably,” along with “transit signal priority” per the agency.
Crews are expected to get to work “locating and identifying underground utilities through the process of digging small, controlled, exploratory holes to physically locate and verify underground utilities (pipes, cables) before excavation,” starting Monday May 11, according to the notice.
Officials have promised that once construction is completed on the Vermont corridor, it willslash existing end-to-end commute timefrom 70 minutes down to 53, for the nearly 36,000 daily transit trips through the area, perSecret Los Angeles.
The notice also said commuters should expect some closures once construction finally gets underwayon the expansionlater this year, including Vermont Ave traffic being reduced in both directions during the day, parts of the sidewalk being closed and the right and left turns being closed intermittently. There could also be parking restrictions.
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Once completed the new BRT corridor will look and operate similar to a light rail with “enhanced stations” along the way, offering shelters, seating, lighting and “and real-time arrival displays,” the report noted.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
