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

Transportation Meeting: Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project

September 26, 2011 – Councilmember Tom LaBonge and LACMA West hosted a meeting for local media and interested parties to hear the latest status of two very important transportation projects that will impact our neighborhood in the near future.  This post will address the Bus lane project.

Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project

Representatives from LADOT and the Department of Public Works/Bureau of Engineering of the City of Los Angeles addressed the plan to improve transit service, bus passenger travel times, service reliability, ridership of the existing Wilshire BRT system, and encourage a shift from automobile use to public transit.  It’s estimated that there are 4,000 bus trips up and down Wilshire (downtown to the Westside) everyday.   At certain periods of the day, there are more people in buses on Wilshire than there are in cars.

Between Wilshire Boulevard and San Vicente Boulevard, this project will address the following:

Selected reconstruction and or repaving of the existing east and westbound curb lanes and converting them, through striping, to peak-period bus lanes.  And upgrading/enhancing the Transit Priority System.

In addition, selected repaving and or resurfacing of the middle lanes.  And selected re-profiling of the intersections.

My new found relationship with the Firestone Tire Store on LaBrea can attest to the fact that Wilshire Boulevard has taken a beating from the longer, heavier buses and the increased frequency of rides.   The Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit Project will address Wilshire – however, fixes won’t come quick. As the schedule stands now, the physical work involved with this project won’t begin until early 2014.  Part of the reason why this project is so far off is because of the second project addressed – the Westside Subway Project (we’ll address this in a separate post).  According to the representatives at the meeting, it doesn’t make sense to spend too much fixing Wilshire today, only to rip it up/scar it again when the underground subway construction project comes through (projected start – 2013).

In the meantime, limited fixes have happened and will continue to happen along Wilshire.  Resources are limited due to budgetary constraints.  If you see pot holes or experience parts of Wilshire that are dangerous/in need of repair – it’s important that you let Councilmember LaBonge’s office know so they can send a crew to fix.   Call or email Sheila Irani, Field Deputy for Wilshire, Larchmont Village, Koreatown, Miracle Mile in Council District 4.  She can be reached at 213-485-3337/[email protected] .  If they don’t know about it, they can’t fix it!

We’ve attached some literature that was available at the meeting, including a project schedule, a map of the overall project and an overview of the project for our 3.6 mile stretch (Wilshire from Western to San Vicente) and beyond.

Meeting Notes: Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit Project Map-Schedule-Overview

Website:  Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit Project

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Mary
Mary
Mary has lived in the Hancock Park area for over 20 years - including homes in Larchmont Village and Windsor Square. Mary has lived in some great places in her life - but none compare to the convenience and majesty of our neighborhood. For Mary, the neighborhood has been a wonderful home to her large, extended family...at one time she had family members living on seven different Hancock Park area blocks! Larchmont Buzz is a labor of love - built to celebrate the neighborhood and to elevate the conversation in the area.

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