CALTRANS, MTA SHOULD COOPERATE ON 101 CORRIDOR.

Byline: Michael Barack Local View

I am extremely disheartened and concerned about the direction that the California Department of Transportation's proposals for the 101 Corridor Improvement Study is taking.

First, I am concerned that Caltrans is not engaging in the proper community outreach. Stakeholders, transit advocates and members of the public are not being consulted or responded to.

When others and I inquire as to the scheduling of public meetings about the project, we are continually told that they have not been scheduled yet.

Even after being put on the e-mail list for the project, we still receive no information.

This makes it seem as though there is no concern with either soliciting public input or seeking to inform the public until after decisions have been made.

This is very frustrating and discouraging, and it is likely to cause increased and unnecessary community opposition and delay.

I am also concerned at the largely overlapping efforts by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Caltrans for this corridor.

The MTA has already approved the Burbank Chandler Valley Busway, which is being designed and constructed to support conversion to rail once sufficiently high levels of ridership, warranting its use for rail, are demonstrated.

It is duplicative at best, and perhaps even wasteful, for Caltrans to endorse such expensive and controversial proposals as elevated lanes - with or without a train line included - without at least first giving serious consideration to the comparatively inexpensive idea of extending the Red Line.

If the Valley Busway was instead constructed as an at-grade, fully grade-separated western extension of the Red Line to Warner Center, it would do much to mitigate traffic on the 101 Freeway, because of its proximity and parallel route to the 101.

In addition, extending the Red Line west instead of building the busway would avoid the expense of converting it to rail in the future. Westward expansion of the Red Line would also have the benefit of avoiding the opposition of residents along the 101 who are opposed to any additional lanes.

These stakeholders would be likely to support an extension of the Red Line, if for no reason other than their opposition to increased lanes and traffic.

If the Red Line was extended west to Warner Center, there is no doubt that the ridership along this corridor would be huge. This would more than justify the cost, which would, in any event, be significantly lower than the cost of elevated freeway lanes.

It is extremely frustrating that the MTA and Caltrans are not working on the 101 corridor project collaboratively or at least discussing these ideas. It is disheartening that no one at either agency seems willing or able to implement such collaboration.

It is an outrage that Caltrans is utilizing a process that neither invites nor allows any real opportunity for public input.

It is disgusting that mass transit supporters, who are in favor of taking proactive steps, are being ignored, particularly since they can be counted on to mobilize community outreach and support.

Caltrans' failures in these areas only serve to alienate the supporters of improvement, creating a vacuum that leaves NIMBYs as the loudest voices.

This will inevitably create the false impression that the proposals are not supported but are instead opposed by all stakeholders. The outcome of such a process will likely be an option that the community does not want or support: unnecessary delays and possibly even a cancellation of the entire project.

This cannot and should not be allowed to happen.

Caltrans and the MTA need to start addressing the 101 corridor together.

To do this effectively, part of this process must provide a real opportunity for the input of those who are affected by the project and for whom these agencies work: the public.