Serving Larchmont Village, Hancock Park, and the Greater Wilshire neighborhoods of Los Angeles since 2011.

Metro to Begin Installing Bus Priority Lanes on La Brea

 

In November 2021, Metro held a community meeting to discuss its plans to install Bus Priority Lanes on La Brea Ave., between Sunset Blvd. and Coliseum St.  And now, almost exactly a year later, the first phase of the project – installing the lanes between Sunset and Olympic Blvd. – is about to begin.

According to a Metro notice delivered to nearby neighbors this week:

 

“Metro’s contractor will conduct striping removals and restripe curbside lanes, replace existing signs with new bus lane signs, and install pavement markings for new bus priority lanes on La Brea Ave., between Sunset Blvd. and Olympic Blvd.  This work will begin the week of December 5 and will occur Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. for the month of December. Construction will NOT occur on holidays or on weekends in the month of December.”

 

According to the notice, the work will continue through the month of January during the same weekday hours, and also on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.  And, yes, the project will include temporary lane closures along La Brea, at various points between Sunset and Olympic “as necessary.” There will also be temporary block-by-block, one-side-only parking restrictions as the work progresses.  And “temporary signage will offer detour information for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.”

Work on the second half of the project corridor – from Olympic south to Coliseum Street – will be announced and completed later next year.

 

Background

 

According to Metro’s presentation last year, there are several goals for the new lanes (which will be similar to those installed along Wilshire Blvd. in our area several years ago). They include:

  • Increasing both bus speed and ridership along the La Brea corridor.
  • Making it easier to connect with the Expo Line along Exposition Blvd.
  • Improving transit equity by creating a better experience for bus riders.
  • Improving traffic safety by keeping both buses and cars in their own lanes and preventing them from weaving back and forth into and out of the same lanes.

As with our Wilshire Blvd. bus priority lanes, the new La Brea lanes will be in effect only during peak travel times, when parking will also be restricted.  At all other times, traffic will move normally, and street parking will remain available.

Located along a 5.9-mile segment of La Brea Av, between Sunset Blvd. and Coliseum St., the project will add bus priority lanes in both directions during weekday peak hours, between 7-9 am and 4-7 pm on the segment from Sunset to Olympic Blvd., and between 7-10 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. on the segment from Olympic Bl to Coliseum St.

Buses will run every 7-8 minutes during peak commute hours, instead of the current 15 minute frequency, and the new lanes will save 5 minutes travel time, in both directions, from Exposition to Sunset.

To make room for the bus lanes, the curbside lane on each side of the street will be reserved during peak periods for buses and only those cars making right-hand turns at upcoming intersections.

 

 

For questions and more information, see the contact information below.

 

 

[Note:  This story was updated after publication to update the hours when the bus priority lanes will be used during peak travel times.]

 

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Elizabeth Fuller
Elizabeth Fuller
Elizabeth Fuller was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN but has lived in LA since 1991 - with deep roots in both the Sycamore Square and West Adams Heights-Sugar Hill neighborhoods. She spent 10 years with the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, volunteers at Wilshire Crest Elementary School, and has been writing for the Buzz since 2015.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Commuters have no say in this debacle but they’re certainly going to feel the effects of it.
    Not only that, but the loss of 1 more hour in the afternoon for the businesses on La Brea after over 50 of them signed petitions PLEADING for this not to happen has all been ignored. Guess the PAC behind the effort to hide details from anyone that wasn’t a supporter is happy and so are their big money donors from New York City.

  2. This article has a lot of false information. Metro initially proposed bus only lanes on La Brea between Sunset and Coliseum. After review, it turned out that the segment from Olympic to Coliseum would be a total nightmare, so Metro dropped that segment, and will only do this on the segment from Sunset to Olympic. The article talks a lot about two phases of the project (Not true), and talks about different hours for the non-existent phase 2 (also not true).

    THERE WILL BE NO BUS ONLY LANES ON LA BREA BETWEEN OLYMPIC AND COLISEUM!!

    Please remove the false information from your article.

    • Hi, Ryan — Not sure where you got your information, but Metro confirmed the following to us on Thursday, December 1:
      “Located along a 5.9-mile segment of La Brea Av, between Sunset Bl and Coliseum St, the project will add bus priority lanes in both directions during weekday peak hours, between 7-9am and 4-7pm on the segment from Sunset Bl to Olympic Bl, and between 7-10am and 3-7pm on the segment from Olympic Bl to Coliseum St…Although the second phase (La Brea Av between Olympic Bl to Coliseum St) will be announced later, the bus priority lanes will operate on this segment for an additional hour in the morning and afternoon (7-10am and 3-7pm).”

  3. The La Brea bus only lanes won’t speed up bus travel on this segment. Buses already travel faster on La Brea during this time because of the current anti-gridlock lanes

    What Metro should have done was step up parking enforcement and towing of illegally parked vehicles in the current anti-gridlock lanes. That actually would have sped up current buses without causing a large increase in traffic for the other thousands of vehicles that use this segment.

    I bet the average bus won’t even gain a minute on this route. What a waste for just 4 buses an hour!

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