It's a small step, but it's something: City Councilmember Tom LaBonge passed a resolution this week urging the state senate to reverse 22-year-old legislation that bans light rail construction along the route of the Orange Line busway, which travels from Chatsworth to North Hollywood. "The Orange Line right of way was once rail and should be rail again," LaBonge said. The 1991 Robbins bill, passed to prevent that terrifying above-ground rail transit from coming to the Valley, specifically bans light rail along the old Southern Pacific Burbank branch around Chandler Avenue, from the 101 to Hazeltine Avenue in Van Nuys. Reversing the law would be the first step in possibly turning the Orange Line busway into a new light rail line--Metro has stated such a conversion is possible. Light rail would increase the capacity on the popular busway, but where the money to lay down tracks and buy new trains would come from is anyone's guess.
· Orange Line Conversion to Light Rail: It Can Happen [Curbed LA]
Filed under:
Loading comments...