This multi-billion dollar transit project could improve traffic throughout LA Go to the polls today

The Sepulveda Transit Corridor project will connect the Westside to the San Fernando Valley in less than 30 minutes and effectively eliminate traffic congestion on one of the nation’s busiest corridors by providing an alternative to the snarling 405 over the Santa Monica Mountains.

The multibillion-dollar Metro plan is considered one of the country’s most important transit projects — and it could move forward after years of debate. But billions of dollars have yet to be confirmed, raising questions about its timeline.

Metro’s planning and programming committee approved a heavy-duty subway option last week that would run from Van Nuys to Sherman Oaks, pass through the foothills and Bel Air, stop at UCLA and end at the E Line/Expo Sepulveda station. The option eliminates the controversial monorail proposal through Sepulveda Pass and bypasses the stop at the Getty Center, which has been under consideration.

“The Sepulveda Corridor is an important link for the communities of Los Angeles,” Cecily Way, Metro’s chief regional planning officer, said last week. “This project will add an important regional connection to the transportation network.”

The plan is before the full Metro board of directors on Thursday.

The plan has been the subject of many Metro community meetings and has solicited thousands of public comments on various proposals. Some routes have faced significant pushback from local residents concerned about neighborhood disruption and environmental hazards.

The current route will go under Van Nuys Boulevard. It comes out of two other proposals and was developed after residents expressed concern about a line that would dig near a high-pressure water main along Sepulveda Boulevard.

Bob Anderson, vice president of the Sherman Oaks Home Owners Assn. and a retired aerospace engineer, was “very surprised” that Metro considered residents’ concerns about the proposal.

The group has been critical of some of the proposed routes and still has questions about the current proposal, such as how it would affect parts of Sherman Oaks and Bel Air. Anderson said that while the organization supports the current proposal, it still has concerns about funding.

“We have not heard from Metro how they will pay for this,” he said. “We don’t need to know all the financial details, but we need to know where they will get the funding and how much the funding will cost us.

The estimated cost of the project has decreased since 2016, when voters approved transit improvements between the Valley and the Westside under Measure M.

At the time, the project was set back as $6 billion, then increased to $9.4 billion to $13.8 billion with a 2033 completion goal. Metro does not have an estimate for the current modified proposal. A previous version estimated the price tag at around $24.2 billion, but Metro said that is not true for the new model.

“A short, or initial phase of operation, direct alignment and fewer channels can reduce costs,” the agency said.

About $3.5 billion has so far been protected through Measure M and Measure R.

The transportation agency has expressed the need to rely on regional, local and federal funding to address this deficit and has raised the idea of ​​private-public partnerships – such as the proposals for the regional High Speed ​​​​Rail project. But it did not have a specific plan on how that money would be received or how it would affect the work schedule.

“With existing voter-approved funds, Metro can continue to advance environmental and engineering improvements; however, additional funds will be needed for major construction improvements,” the agency said. The previous line’s opening date was planned for mid-2038, but Metro said there is no updated plan yet for the new version.

The busy corridor and solutions to improve it have been debated for decades. Ethan Elkind, a rail expert and director of the climate program at UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and Environment, said a variety of political and operational factors reduced attention to it: a focus on urban transportation; opposition to mass transit in the San Fernando Valley; and the geological challenges of Sepulveda Pass.

“It’s a lot of land. And the more land you have to go through, the more expensive it is, the more challenging it is,” Elkind said.

LA County leaders have been very supportive of this project.

L.A. County Supervisor and Metro board member Lindsay Horvath said last week that the project would be a historic development in the Los Angeles region, affecting drivers traveling through the Sepulveda Pass on the 405.

“What we have in front of us is the ability to get more than a quarter of those 400,000 commuters out of their cars every day, out of 405 cars and onto public transportation. This represents a change of direction for hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors,” he said. “More people choosing to use transit instead of their cars creates a culture of travel – a culture of riding – and brings all the social and economic benefits that come with it.”

Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman said the construction of the project will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and the revenue generated by passengers will help local businesses.

“We don’t have to accept living on the street as our only option, and this is our way forward,” he said.

Raman pressed the board to finish the full line “violently,” and not just prioritize the first segment, which will connect the Metro G Line at Victory Boulevard and the Metro D Line at Wilshire Boulevard, leaving out connections to the Van Nuys Metrolink station and the Metro E Line Expo/Sepulveda station.