Gridlock to worsen in L.A. Basin, study says

By John Loesing

Acorn Staff Writer

Imagine what it will be like 25 years from now on Los Angeles County highways.

With a population increase of almost 3.5 million people, the average speed on the freeways could be reduced to just 20 mph, predict planners for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Planning a trip downtown? Pack a lunch and be prepared for a long ride.

The MTA presented findings of its draft Long-Range Transportation Plan to members of the public last week in Agoura Hills. The project, which was a year in the making, provides a detailed transportation blueprint for the next quarter century.

Managing the county’s huge transportation demands and increasing the infrastructure will cost billions of dollars and take years to accomplish, yet local needs might go largely ignored, according to critics of the plan.

"This is an area that’s been neglected for many years … This region wants and needs attention," said Westlake Village City Manager Ray Taylor.

Agoura Hills City Councilman Jeff Reinhardt, a transportation advisor to the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), said 40 percent of MTA’s spending will go to improving bus transportation, but only 6 percent of the county’s population uses buses.

Area officials would like to see more emphasis placed on park-and-ride facilities and highway improvements.

"The demand for the use of the 101 corridor is big and getting bigger all the time," Reinhardt said.

Highway improvements account for only 10 percent of MTA’s $106 billion in projected spending. By focusing on bus and light rail construction, the MTA hopes to take up to half a million vehicles off the freeways and convert riders to mass transit.

The plan calls for 400 additional miles of freeway carpool lanes, but no new lanes are in store for the west 101 Freeway due to limited right-of-way access and other constraints.

A SCAG-sponsored Ventura Freeway Corridor Study currently underway looks at other solutions to the area’s crowded highways, but it won’t be finished for three more years.

Local officials suggest MTA at least provide expanded bus service from the Warner Center to the new transit center under construction at Rancho Road in Thousand Oaks. Metro Bus Route No. 161 currently ends in Westlake Village.

"Their plans seem to kind of indicate that all transportation ends at Warner Center," Reinhardt said. "There’s still another 11 miles."

"There’s nothing in the plan to identify we even exist or what our needs are," said Agoura Hills City Councilwoman Louise Rishoff.

Final recommendations to the plan will be made at the MTA board meeting April 26.

"We will be working on ways to make some of these local linkages and do it in a way that implements the goals of the plan," said Rod Goldman, an MTA planning manager.

The plan goals include:

· Expand Metro Rapid Bus by 22 lines

· Add more busways for the San Fernando Valley

· Improve traffic signal coordination and freeway interchanges

· Encourage more ridesharing, walking, bike riding and telecommuting

· Manage truck traffic more efficiently

John Steiner, an Inglewood resident who attended the Agoura Hills meeting, said the proposed changes would go a long way toward improving MTA’s image and ridership.

"I think the MTA gets a bad rap," Steiner said. "A lot of people who never use the MTA have a downscale view of it."