The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board of Directors has released the updated draft of the 2020 Long Range Transportation Plan, a $400-billion, 30-year transportation blueprint for the region.
There will now be a 45-day public review period to gather additional comments from the public on the plan through July 13, 2020.
The plan lays out a future vision and roadmap for bringing about a more mobile, sustainable and vibrant future for Los Angeles County. Through extensive public outreach over the past 18 months that included 77 community meetings, 28 public workshop meetings and 20,000 survey responses from the public, L.A. Metro has distilled the region’s desires into four goals: Better Transit, Less Congestion, Complete Streets and Access to Opportunity.
The draft 2020 Long Range Transportation Plan (2020 LRTP) outlines what L.A. Metro is doing currently and what it must do for Los Angeles County over the next 30 years. Current challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, will present opportunities for L.A. Metro to take bold action and help achieve mobility improvements for the region.
“Over the coming decades, Metro will be faced with numerous, complex decisions about how to address our region’s transportation challenges,” said Metro Board Chair and Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts. “Significant investments will be needed to maintain the region’s aging roadway and transit systems, while managing and modernizing the system to prioritize safe and reliable transportation services.”
The 2020 LRTP details how L.A. Metro helps plan, build, manage and maintain the region’s transportation system, and how L.A. Metro partners deliver projects and programs. L.A. Metro is the planner, designer and builder of southern California’s expansive public transit network. Bolstered by four voter-approved sales tax measures, L.A. Metro says it has constructed roughly 130 miles of rail and bus rapid transit in the past 30 years.
The 2020 LRTP details how L.A. Metro will add more than 100 miles over the next 30 years. Beyond transit, L.A. Metro will invest in arterial and freeway projects to reduce congestion — such as the I-5 North enhancements project and adding more ExpressLanes — and bicycle and pedestrian projects, such as the L.A. River Path Project to close the eight-mile gap in the path between Elysian Valley and Maywood.
The plan calls for prioritizing bus travel on the county’s busiest streets, including Wilshire Boulevard and Flower Street, and working to implement the recommendations of the NextGen Bus Plan. Furthermore, L.A. Metro will invest in technology and promote innovative new mobility options such as carsharing, microtransit and freight-focused technologies.
In addition, the draft 2020 LRTP includes more than $200 billion for operations and state of good repair, as well as $38 billion in funding that returns to local agencies to maintain the local transportation system.
“For this plan to succeed, we must and will continue to build strong partnerships with local, state and federal agencies as well as our many local stakeholders’” said L.A. Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. “These partnerships are crucial for funding and delivering projects and for coordinated planning on issues of regional significance. Metro will increase this collaboration with local jurisdictions to support transit priority on local roadways, to improve first/last mile access to transit and to improve local mobility.”
The plan also notes the potential to deliver significant mobility benefits to the region through the major capital projects, programs and policies. After implementation, those benefits include 21 percent of county residents and 36 percent of jobs will be a 10-minute walk from high-quality rail or bus rapid transit options, up from only eight percent of residents and 16 percent of jobs currently. If implemented, the plan will result in an 81-percent increase in daily transit trips, a 31-percent decrease in traffic delay and a 19-percent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.
L.A. Metro’s Board of Directors are expected to adopt the Final 2020 LRTP towards the end of summer 2020.
