Long Range Transportation Plan Video
Part 1 (3 minutes)
Part 2 (3 minutes)
Part 3 (2 minutes) | Version en Español
The Process
20 Years of Progress
The Financial Picture
Part 4 (2 minutes)
Part 5 (2 minutes)
Part 6 (2 minutes)
Part 7 (3 minutes)
Part 3 - Video Transcript
In order to do the plan right, we move from step to step through the planning process. First we establish performance criteria to measure the benefit of the projects. We also honor past commitments and we’ve included in the draft 2008 plan all the projects that were adopted by the Metro board in the 2001 long range plan. We look at how much money is available and particularly available for new projects. Then we evaluate the benefit of new projects and we’ve included those recommendations for existing projects and new projects in our draft long range plan that’s available for your review. A final plan is prepared and that final plan will be presented to the Metro board in June of this year.
Sometimes we wonder “What can we really accomplish in a 20 year period?” and it’s kind of helpful to look back and see what we have accomplished. We’ve taken a look at the transportation system in 1980 and for example, the highway system, while it included many of our current freeways, had only one car pooling county wide; today we have a county wide system of over 450 miles and have the nation’s largest car pooling system. In 1980 we had much of our local bus system but we had only one transit way and today we’ve created a variety of new transit innovations including our Metro Rapid System which will soon have 28 lines across the county, we now have 35 miles of dedicated bus lanes including the highly successful orange line through the San Fernando Valley and we’ve built 73 miles of Metro rail network county wide. We’ve also funded the Metro Link commuter rail network and 200 miles of the 500 mile system are in Los Angeles County and connects our county with other counties.
Now one of our main challenges in developing the long range plan pure and simple is a lack of money. We’ve also experienced an increase in construction cost over the last several years, so the money we have doesn’t go as far and that’s a real change since we’ve developed our last plan. Now we know that the amount of money we expect to receive is just not keeping pace with the growth we expect over the next 20 years.
We are lucky in Los Angeles County that we have a local source of money from our local sales tax that helps pay for improvements, but to keep pace with our future needs its clear we need more money. Now part of the plan is to look at what we can do within existing resources and we are able to keep pace with existing commitments, we’re keeping those in place although some projects will be delayed. But another part of the plan is looking at new funding.