This is the 2nd in a series on the transit corridor projects that are being talked about in the San Fernando Valley for inclusion in a transportation measure likely to be placed on the ballot in 2016. The Sepulveda Pass Transit Corridor project could be one of the most transformative projects that would be funded, connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Westside and finally fixing the problem that is the 405 freeway.

Background: Two major take-aways from the crowded San Fernando Valley Town Hall meeting Move LA co-hosted with the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments in February: There is a very high level of interest in and support for a new sales tax measure for transportation and for rail projects in particular, and a very high level of support for bike and pedestrian projects as well!

The Sepulveda Pass Transit Corridor is one of the most powerful investments that LA County could make that would provide a real alternative to sitting in traffic on the notoriously jammed 405 freeway -- the busiest in the US. Several alternatives have been studied, and the one that keeps rising to the top is the plan to build a tunnel with Express Lanes on top and a light rail line below (both are in the tunnel, with the Express Lanes on a deck over the light rail).

This Sepulveda Pass Transit Corridor would connect the San Fernando Valley to UCLA and then potentially to LAX and one day maybe even extend to Long Beach! Along the way it would connect to the Purple Line subway at a station on Wilshire near UCLA, and then to the Crenshaw Line at LAX and then to the Green Line. 

To the north the Sepulveda Pass project would connect to the East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor, not yet built but you can read about it here, which would travel north along Van Nuys Boulevard from the Orange Line in the south to the Sylmar Metrolink station in the north, thereby connecting not only the northern and southern parts of the LA County but also providing multiple connections to the rest of the Metro rail system and to the Metrolink commuter rail system that travels into 5 counties -- a truly transformative project!

While light rail seems to be the favorite choice for the Sepulveda Pass Transit Corridor, it could instead be a bus rapid transit or heavy rail corridor – with costs ranging from a low of $1 billion for bus rapid transit lanes running on the shoulders of the 405 to $6 billion or more for a tunnel through the Sepulveda Pass that could accommodate light or heavy rail with toll lanes above.

As Gabriele Morgan sings in Move LA’s “LA’s Got Lines” video: “From the valley to the beach/Along Sepulveda's in reach/And they put it all together/With the Regional Connector/Ride the Rainbow on Metro. . ."