Transportation news for Santa Monica.
On Wednesday, AB 891 Quick-Build Project Pilot Program, passed the Assembly by a 61-17-1 vote with all sixty Assembly Democrats voting for the legislation. AB 891 would require Caltrans to develop quick-build bike lane and intersection projects to improve safety on…
Later this week, or perhaps early next, California Transportation Commission (CTC) staff is expected to release the list of projects to be funded by programs created by the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, aka SB1. The grant awards…
Image: A rendering of the Washington Ave. Neighborhood Greenway that could be by Juan Matute. Santa Monica has had such success with Quick Build projects that the city’s Assemblymember is trying to pass legislation to allow the state transportation agency…
Over the weekend, the Illinois Legislature met to pass its budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and wrapped up their work until the fall. Sadly, they failed to fully fund the Chicago’s Regional Transit Authority (RTA), which faces…
This Friday marks an important upgrade to Santa Monica’s transit system when the Big Blue Bus will begin service to the new LAX Transit Center. At 5:00 p.m., the reroute will become official for BBB’s Route 3 and Rapid 3.…
The Santa Monica Department of Transportation’s Big Blue Bus will host two public hearings to introduce proposed fare increases aimed at enhancing transit services and addressing rising operational costs. The first public hearing will be held virtually on Wednesday, April 2,…
Last month, the State of California released the Draft State Highway System Management Plan (SHSMP), a document required by the legislature every two years. SHSMP provides a ten-year prediction of statewide transportation funding needs. Despite the word “highway” appearing in…
Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Santa Monica) introduced AB 891, a bill that will require Caltrans to develop quick-build bike lane and intersection projects to improve safety on state highways for cyclists and pedestrians. A “quick build project” is a temporary,…
This story also appears at Streetsblog Los Angeles. Many Streetsblog readers and Metro riders already know this story: Metro ridership keeps on growing steadily. Recently released ridership data from January shows twenty-six consecutive months of increases. January 2025 saw 918,375…
Caption: This image from a presentation in March of 2024 shows the state’s plan for the next $35 billion of high speed rail funding. Only the top yellow part was from the federal government which will likely be pulled back…
Gesturing toward the nearly completed Wilshire/La Brea Metro station, U.S. Representative Laura Friedman warned “The Trump Administration proposed cuts to federal investments to support this stop, this train stop that is months away from opening.” “How crazy is that?” Metro…
(Editor’s note: You all know Todd, right? Welcome to Santa Monica Next!) Consequences may finally be coming for ill-behaved Big Blue Bus (BBB) riders. On Tuesday evening, the Santa Monica City Council preliminarily approved an ordinance that would establish a…
City Says It Doesn’t Need Another Vote to Close the Airport Ever since a federal judge approved a consent decree between the city and the Federal Aviation Administration that allows the city to close the airport on January 1, 2029,…
Even as the Palisades fire and other megafires shift the focus on public safety from transportation to wildfires made more likely by climate change, many in our community are still mourning the death of a 70-year old Santa Monica resident…
This story also appears at Streetsblog Los Angeles. Photo: Metro/Caltrans 57/60 Freeway expansion project construction this month by Joe Linton. Climate disruption is here. Right now. It’s past time that Southern California transportation heavyweights – including Metro and Caltrans –…
