Metro - File #: 2025-0044

• File #: 2025-0044
• Type: Project
• Status: Agenda Ready
• File created: 1/21/2025
• In control: Planning and Programming Committee
• On agenda: 3/19/2025
• Title: CONSIDER: A. RECEIVING AND FILING the Vermont Transit Corridor environmental study findings as per Senate Bill 922 Statutory Exemption requirements; B. APPROVING the proposed Vermont Transit Corridor Project, a new 12.4-mile at-grade, side-running bus rapid transit (BRT) line with 26 stations at 13 intersection locations (Attachment A), as the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA); C. APPROVING the finding that the Project is statutorily exempt from CEQA under Section 21080.25(b); and D. AUTHORIZING the Chief Executive Officer to file a CEQA Notice of Exemption (NOE) for the Project with the Los Angeles County Clerk and the Governor's Office of Planning and Research.
• Sponsors: Board of Directors - Regular Board Meeting
• Indexes: Activity centers, All Door Boarding, Ara Najarian, Athens, Bicycling, Board approved a Motion, Board approved Contract, Budgeting, Bus rapid transit, Bus traffic, Central Los Angeles subregion, City of Los Angeles, Construction, Construction safety, Equity Focus Communities, Florence, Gardena, Hilda Solis, Holly J. Mitchell, Housing, Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker, James Butts, LADOT Transit, Maps, Median lanes, Metro Equity Platform, Metro Rail A Line, Metro Rail C Line, Motion / Motion Response, Outreach, Partnerships, Pedestrian safety, Pedestrians, Plan, Preservation, Project, Rail transit, Ridership, Safety, Safety and security, San Fernando Valley subregion, South Bay Cities subregion, South Bay Service Sector, Strategic planning, Sustainable transportation, Traffic congestion, Transit buses, Travel time, Vermont Avenue Transit Corridor, Vermont Transit Corridor (Project), Vermont/Sunset Station, Visibility, Walking, West Athens, Westmont, Westside Cities subregion, Zoning

Meeting_Body
PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
MARCH 19, 2025

Subject
SUBJECT: VERMONT TRANSIT CORRIDOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND PLANNING STUDY

Action
ACTION: APPROVE RECOMMENDATION

Heading
RECOMMENDATION

Title
CONSIDER:

A. RECEIVING AND FILING the Vermont Transit Corridor environmental study findings as per Senate Bill 922 Statutory Exemption requirements;

B. APPROVING the proposed Vermont Transit Corridor Project, a new 12.4-mile at-grade, side-running bus rapid transit (BRT) line with 26 stations at 13 intersection locations (Attachment A), as the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA);

C. APPROVING the finding that the Project is statutorily exempt from CEQA under Section 21080.25(b); and

D. AUTHORIZING the Chief Executive Officer to file a CEQA Notice of Exemption (NOE) for the Project with the Los Angeles County Clerk and the Governor's Office of Planning and Research.

Issue
ISSUE

The Vermont corridor is the busiest bus transit corridor in Los Angeles County with approximately 38,000 weekday boardings and serves several communities heavily dependent on public transit providing connectivity to four Metro rail lines, several east-west bus routes, and major activity centers.


The Vermont Transit Corridor Project (Project) brings long-awaited improvements in travel time, service reliability, and customer experience along a 12.4-mile stretch of Vermont Avenue between Sunset Boulevard and 120th Street (Attachment B).

The Vermont Transit Corridor is a Measure M Project with an anticipated opening date as early as 2028, in time for the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. Critical to meeting this schedule, a Project and a Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) must be identified, and the environmental review complete. The Project is statutorily exempt under CEQA through SB 922 and staff seek Board approval of this finding.

Background
BACKGROUND

In December 2013, Metro completed the Los Angeles County Bus Rapid Transi...