Los Angeles transportation officials approved on Feb. 4 the continuation of a rail line from Culver City to Santa Monica, with a proposed station on Westwood Boulevard.
This would improve commuter access to UCLA, said Gabriela Collins, government and community relations manager for the Expo Construction Authority.
During the meeting in downtown Los Angeles, the Expo Authority certified the Final Environmental Impact Report for Phase Two of the Expo Light Rail Line, which will connect downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica by 2015, Collins said.
“(UCLA) looks upon it as a positive development that will provide better access to the campus community and provide better travel times for both employees and students,” said Transportation Planning and Policy Manager Dave Karwaski.
The Expo Line, which is expected to carry 64,000 passengers per day once completed, will allow UCLA commuters to take the train along this east-west corridor. It will serve as an alternative option to the 10 Freeway from downtown Los Angeles to the station at Westwood and Sepulveda boulevards, than take alternate transit to campus, Collins said.
The Expo Line will also connect to the other transit lines in Los Angeles that bring commuters from the Eastside, San Fernando Valley and Long Beach, Collins said, thus making the commute easier, quicker and cheaper than previous transit options.
“The city of Los Angeles has desperate transportation needs, and (the Expo Line) will meet those needs,” said Bruins for Traffic Relief President Matthew Kroneberger.
The second-year political science student attended the public meeting on Feb. 4 where the vote took place and declared the group’s support for the project.
However, commuters are concerned about the route from the station on Westwood Boulevard to campus.
Once commuters reach Westwood Boulevard, they may meet increased traffic on the already congested street due to people driving to and from the station, said Allison Mannos, a member of the Bicycle Coalition at UCLA.
Mannos said the bikeway that will be built along the Expo Line will be extremely beneficial to bicyclists coming along this corridor, but traveling from the station to campus will be difficult and dangerous.
In order to mitigate the traffic concerns, Mannos said the city is considering adding a travel lane for cars instead of a bicycle lane, which would jeopardize bicyclists because of the narrow width of the lanes.
The solution to this problem lies in the city’s responsibility to integrate current bus routes with the station, Kroneberger said, because this easier and cheaper option would mitigate the need to drive to and from the station, thus decreasing car traffic along the street.
The Bicycle Coalition at UCLA has been working with Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl to address the concerns of bicyclists, and Mannos said that, as a result, Rosendahl has called for a bicycle advisory committee for the Expo Line.
The group hopes that someone from the UCLA bicycling community will be a part of this committee, said Herbie Huff, founder of the coalition and an urban planning graduate student.
“City planners need to take this opportunity to integrate transit options and include buses and bicycles instead of just accommodating cars,” Kroneberger said.