After a lengthy wait, preconstruction activities are set to commence as early as next week for a bus rapid transit line running down much of Vermont Avenue.

A construction notice issued by Metro indicates that crews are scheduled to begin the search for existing underground utilities as early as May 11. Work will be limited to small exploratory digs to find pipes and cables before heavier excavation and roadway construction commences later in 2026.

Rendering of Vermont BRT segment from 4th Street to 1st Street looking northMetro

The project corridor for the bus rapid transit line spans approximately 12 miles of Vermont Avenue between Hollywood Boulevard in Los Feliz and 120th Street in unincorporated Athens. Metro estimates that his segment of Vermont sees roughly 36,000 transit trips on a daily basis, making it the busiest bus route in Metro's network

Plans to upgrade the corridor with bus rapid transit infrastructure date to 2016, when Los Angeles County voters approved funding for the project via the Measure M sales tax. The final design for the project calls for eventually implementing end-to-end side running bus lanes along the full corridor for use by Metro and local bus lines.

Rendering of BRT station at Vermont and 3rd StreetMetro

Metro expects the installation of dedicated lanes will increase bus ridership on Vermont to 66,000 daily passengers, more than 12,000 of whom would be new daily riders to Metro's system. Additionally, the project would cut bus travel times from 70 minutes to 53 minutes. Those high ridership numbers have prompted Metro to also explore the construction of a subway or light rail line on the corridor, which estimates indicate could carry as many as 144,000 daily passengers. However, funding for such an undertaking would not be available until 2067.

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