Last week, the State of California announced nearly $240 million in funding for new affordable housing developments and transportation projects in Los Angeles County. Included in that was new funding for the construction of bus priority lanes, open space, and other active transportation improvements along a key corridor adjacent to Los Angeles General Medical Center and the USC Health Sciences campus.
Intersection of Mission Road and Zonal AvenueCity of Los Angeles
As part of a $34 million funding award for the construction of new permanent supportive housing across the street from the hospital, the State Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program will also provide $9 million for the Valley Boulevard Multi-Modal Transportation Improvement Project. That money, according to a representative of Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de Leon, will be packaged with $27 million previously allocated to the project by Metro. Altogether, $80 million has been raised for the Valley Boulevard makeover to date.
The project, which is bankrolled largely by money once slated for the cancelled extension of the 710 Freeway, will impact a roughly 4.5-mile corridor that stretches from Union Station to the Alhambra-Los Angeles border, and also includes a stretch of Mission Road. Project elements will include:
- protected bike lanes with landscaped medians;
- peak-hour bus-only lanes;
- nine miles of new sidewalks;
- 800 pedestrian and street lights;
- 1,800 new trees;
- three acres of new landscaping; and
- a two-acre extension of Lincoln Park which will connect with Parque de Mexico.
Aerial view looking east on Valley BoulevardCity of Los Angeles
Valley Boulevard is one of two corridors in the near vicinity that will benefit from funding once intended for the 710 extension. Similar enhancements with bus and bike lanes are envisioned for four-mile stretch of Huntington Drive, while new bike lanes, landscaping, and pedestrian infrastructure are planned for Eastern Avenue.
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