El Camino Real BRT Update September, 2014
Draft Environmental Document Nearly Ready for Public Review
VTA has nearly completed distilling the findings of 12 technical reports and 18 months of analysis into a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), which will be released this fall for public review. The DEIR discloses the effects that VTA expects the seven project alternatives will have across 17 categories of environmental impacts. In particular, the document contains detailed evaluations of transportation, including ridership, vehicle speeds, on-corridor and off-corridor traffic, parking, and bicycle and pedestrian enhancements.
The release of the DEIR and a 45-day public comment period comprise a very important stage in the project. During this time, the public will be asked to review the DEIR and provide comments. VTA’s Board of Directors will review the findings of the DEIR and will consider public comments when they decide which of the seven project alternatives should be pursued.
The DEIR will be about 7,000 pages long because by law it must include very technical analysis. Reviewing such a document can be intimidating so the Project Team will be holding a series of public meetings and and placing information on VTA's website. We’ll send out another announcement once the DEIR is released.
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What Are The Seven Alternatives?
The seven alternatives feature combinations of two BRT street configurations (dedicated lane and mixed flow) as well as some segments that would not be upgraded with BRT facilities. The alternatives cover a range of possible projects—from doing nothing to installing up to 14 miles of bus-only lanes on El Camino Real. Additionally, two new potential stations—Embarcadero/Churchill and Escuela—are being considered for inclusion in the project.
North/South Bus Study in the Works
The North Central County Bus Improvement Plan is a special analysis of north/south routes in the cities of Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and Cupertino. With the projected arrival of BRT service along El Camino Real in 2018 and a significant amount of changing land use occurring in these cities away from the El Camino Real corridor, an opportunity exists to better connect transit to these new land uses and to strengthen the connectivity of north/south routes with the future BRT service.
VTA is holding a community workshop on September 9th from 5:30 to 7:30PM at the Council Chambers in Sunnyvale City Hall. At the workshop, VTA will share some service change concepts that staff have developed as well as ask the community how we can improve transit service in these cities.
BRT refers to an enhanced bus system that provides faster, more efficient, more reliable service and increased customer convenience than traditional bus service. This is achieved through several technological and infrastructure improvements such as dedicated bus lanes, specialized vehicles, stations designed for efficient boarding and transit signal priority, which holds a green light for approaching buses. In short, BRT provides the flexibility of buses with the efficiency of rail.
Why install BRT on El Camino Real?
Cities in Santa Clara County have adopted strategies to accommodate population and job growth by focusing redevelopment along transit corridors like El Camino Real. Accommodating this new demand will require multimodal solutions that make non-auto modes like transit and bicycling more appealing.
As such, VTA is pursuing BRT on El Camino Real as a way to improve the quality, speed and on-time reliability of public transit service at a lower operating cost as well as develop a sustainable, long term strategy for moving people on this corridor.
How did we get here?
In 2000, Santa Clara County voters passed Measure A, a half-cent sales tax that would fund a list of transit improvements including upgrading transit in major corridors. In 2009, VTA studied six major corridors and found El Camino Real to be worthy of upgrade to BRT. From 2010 through 2013, VTA worked with cities and communities along the corridor to determine what a potential BRT project on El Camino Real could be. Along with input from VTA's Board of Directors in the fall of 2012, seven versions of a BRT project were identified as worth studying. Since then, VTA has been conducting an environmental analysis to identify what the impacts of each alternative would be.
How is it funded?
The El Camino Real BRT Project is funded by the Measure A (2000) sales tax. In order to leverage those funds, VTA is seeking an award of up to $75 million from the Federal Transportation Administration through the Small Starts Program. The project will compete with other BRT projects around the country for funding.
Get Involved/Learn More
If you have any questions about the El Camino Real BRT Project, want to get involved or would like project staff to present the project at a community meeting, please contact VTA’s Community Outreach Department at (408) 321-7575, TTY for the hearing impaired (408) 321-2330. You may also visit us on the web at:
www.vta.org/brt
community.outreach@vta.org
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