May 18, 2018
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Panel Reports on BRT Planning and Prioritization

“What is BRT? Whatever you want it to be. It’s different for each community,” Mark Huffer, project director, HNTB Corporation, said at the opening of the “BRT Planning and Prioritization” session that described proposals for Washington, DC, Seattle and Los Angeles.

Spring Worth, transportation ­planner, District of Columbia DOT/Mass Transit Administration, and ­Adrienne Ameel, transportation engineer, ­Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., reported on a proposed 2.7-mile “BRT Lite” corridor on 16th Street NW, a major artery in Washington. The route currently is served by four Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority routes that provide 20,000 daily rides, Worth said, but the corridor has problems with bus bunching, overcrowded vehicles and traffic ­congestion—24,000 vehicles per day on part of the route, according to Ameel—­leading to slow travel times.

Because the route travels through five historic districts and is bordered by historic sites, Ameel said, widening the street is not an option at some points. The plan calls for the consolidation of some of the existing 34 stops along the corridor and retains an existing reversible lane.

Worth noted that the 16th Street project is still in the planning stage, which she hopes will be completed next year with implementation following in 2020.

The Seattle BRT line, branded as the King County Metro RapidRide G Line, is scheduled to open in 2021, according to CDM Smith employees Michael Bjork, transit engineer, and Thaddeus Wozniak, project manager. The 2.7-mile corridor will be the first major BRT service in the city—earlier RapidRide routes also serve surrounding communities—and is designed to prioritize public transit on a heavily traveled corridor by adding a dedicated lane.

Bjork and Wozniak described how the proposed route will incorporate bike lanes and said the BRT lanes will be served by center platforms that will allow 60-foot articulated buses to turn without affecting traffic. Another benefit they stated is the inclusion of a station at Seattle University, improving student access throughout the region.

From left: Tyler Bonstead, Doreen Zhou, Michael Bjork, Thaddeus Wozniak, Adrienne Ameel, Spring Worth and Mark Huffer.


STV Incorporated employees Tyler Bonstead, vice president, and Doreen Zhou, planner, reported on improvements planned for Los Angeles Metro’s Orange Line, the only BRT service in Los Angeles County. The line opened in 2005 and underwent expansion in 2012; Metro plans to break ground for the upgrade in 2019.

Zhou noted that the Orange Line follows a historic rail corridor but was constructed as BRT because of opposition to a light rail line. It provides about 25,000 rides each weekday.

The county’s Measure M half-cent sales tax, approved by voters in 2016, includes $286 million for the BRT upgrades; an additional $1.4 billion will support the ultimate conversion of the line to light rail, with ground-breaking in 2051. The BRT plan includes improved signal priority and such measures as permanent road closures and four-quadrant safety gates like those used at rail crossings to prevent collisions with cars, she said.

Bonstead said the Orange Line operates on one of Metro’s busiest routes. He said Los Angeles DOT and the California Public Utilities Commission are working on both immediate goals, such as converting the line’s buses from CNG to zero-emission electric vehicles by 2020, and the long-term preparation for light rail, which could include platooning buses to keep the corridor open during construction.

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