Extraordinary Innovation for the Sepulveda Pass? By Bob Anderson The County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, commonly known as Metro, has received extraordinary innovative concept proposals from private industry teams for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project – the future transit backbone from the Van Nuys Metrolink station to the Westside and then LAX. These innovative concepts are new and different from the four concepts that Metro itself designed and are expected to be much more affordable. Metro is now evaluating the proposals. Early next year, the public will be able to comment on them. Metro will then select several winners – some from their own concepts and Envious Drivers on the I-405 Watching Innovative Rapid Transit Fly By some innovative ones from industry. We want every 405 freeway median, going from the Van Nuys winning concept to be excellent, acceptable to our Metrolink station all the way to LAX. We hope Metro community, and absolutely affordable. If Metro selects finds this concept technically and financially viable for any unacceptable concepts, then the Valley will never selection. Metro qualified three other industry teams get the fair share of rapid transit that we were that probably bid, but we don’t know anything about promised, deserve, and are paying for with sales tax. those concepts. We hope they are extraordinary too, The public almost didn’t get to comment on the but they could instead be unacceptably horrible. We just innovative industry concepts. A little nudge from the don’t know! Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association (SOHA) The public will be able to comment on all these changed their mind. SOHA and every community innovative concepts early in 2021. Metro originally impacted by the project appreciate Metro’s quick planned to give the public only a useless 72-hour response to our concerns. Here’s the whole story. comment period. The Sherman Oaks Homeowners Over a few years, Metro designed its own four Association and others were very concerned. On concepts and highlighted them at a series of public August 18th, SOHA sent a letter to Metro CEO Phillip meetings. Two of Metro’s concepts are excellent and Washington explaining that allowing insufficient time acceptable choices – subways from the Valley to the for public comment on the innovative concepts was Westside, either under Van Nuys Boulevard or unfair and would damage Metro’s reputation. Affected . Metro’s other two concepts are communities would not accept any Metro decision in abhorrent and unacceptable – elevated trains running which the public unfairly had no voice. above Sepulveda Boulevard in the Valley. SOHA’s arguments were successful. Three days after All Metro’s concepts are very expensive – $12 to receiving our letter, Metro’s CEO sent SOHA’s Bob $16 billion – far more than the available $6.5 billion Anderson a letter stating that they had added a new budget. If the choice is only these four expensive Metro one-month public comment period before selecting the concepts, the Valley will likely get shortchanged again winning innovative concepts. The letter went on: “This on rapid transit, since unacceptable elevated trains cost will allow the public sufficient time to … provide any a bit less to build than subways. comments to Metro or directly to the Metro Board.” Metro’s Office of Extraordinary Innovation devised a Every community near the Sepulveda Transit Corridor solution. They asked the transit industry to propose Project should be thrilled about this – not only the innovative concepts that would eventually become Valley. public-private partnerships, saving money and possibly Metro will announce the winning concepts in early accelerating construction. 2021, including their own concepts and private On August 26th, industry teams delivered their industry’s innovative concepts. Metro will then study innovative concept proposals to Metro. Since Metro is the winning concepts to refine them and understand evaluating them under strict secrecy rules, the public their environmental impacts. won’t know much about the innovative concepts for With the critical transit backbone between the several months. But we do know a little. Valley, Westside, and LAX finally heading toward reality, We know that several industry teams, probably four, we must make sure Metro selects only completely submitted innovative concept proposals. Metro will acceptable, totally viable, and fully affordable concepts select at most two of them and each must be a different – and rejects every unacceptable concept. mode of transit. Let’s all work together to finally get the Valley our For example, if one is monorail then the second must fair share of transit this time around. be something else, like heavy rail, light rail, or bus. We Bob Anderson is a nuclear engineer, board member of the Sherman are almost certain the LA SkyRail Express team proposed Oaks Homeowners Association, and chair of SOHA’s Transportation an extraordinary monorail concept running above the Committee. Email: [email protected]

Published by The Studio City-Sherman Oaks-Encino News, September 2020; edited by Stephen Phenow.