Infrastructure & Policy Updates 5/3/2023

State Level

California Awards $690 Million To 28 Projects Transit, Capital Rail Programs

California’s Transit and Intercity Capital Rail Programs awarded $690 million to 28 projects around the state in its second round of grants for 2023. This brings to $3.2 billion the total awarded in 2023 to get big transit projects going. $2.54 billion was awarded in February to already existing projects.

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California Hits 1.5 Million Zero-Emission Vehicle Sales

California has surpassed its goals of 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on its roads by 2025. According to figures from the California Energy Commission, 1.52 million electric vehicles, or EVs, have been purchased through the first quarter of this year. Under the state’s definition, EVs are comprised of battery-electric, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

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General LA

Los Angeles Gets ‘F’ Grade For Air Quality Once Again

Despite tremendous progress in reducing air pollution over the last several decades, 98% of Californians live in communities with unhealthy levels of smog or fine particles, according to a new report released by the American Lung Assn. Around 38.5 million California residents live in a county that received a failing grade in the Lung Association’s annual “State of the Air” report, which has served as a national scorecard for the two major air pollutants since 2000.

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Antelope Valley

Antelope Valley Transit Authority Awarded Nearly $4 Million For New Transit Projects

The funding will help create a new, zero-emission commuter transit connection between the Antelope Valley and Victorville.

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San Gabriel Valley

Pasadena Gets $14.4 Million For Zero-Emission Buses and More

In an investment towards Pasadena’s goal of becoming a zero-emission city by 2035, the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) awarded the city $14.4 million as part of the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP). The grant will be used to purchase zero-emission replacement and expansion vehicles, construct infrastructure for a new hydrogen fueling station, install a solar canopy at the future Transit Operations and Maintenance Facility, and enhance the transit customer experience.

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UCLA Study: A History of Pasadena and Its Freeways in the 20th Century

Before World War II, northwest Pasadena was seen as a place of possibility for Black residents, amid an otherwise hostile suburban Los Angeles. However, in the 1950s and ‘60s, planners and local officials built upon decades of disinvestment, redlining, and urban renewal projects to push a new route of the Foothill Freeway/Interstate 210 through the northwest neighborhoods of Pasadena, resulting in the displacement of nearly 3,000 predominantly Black residents. An alternate route — running largely through uninhabited parkland along the eastern edge of the Arroyo Seco valley by the Rose Bowl stadium parking lot — was rejected.

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Westside

Culver City Removes Protected Bike Lane From MOVE Culver City Project

The Culver City Council voted to remove the pilot project’s protected bike lane and add one lane for vehicle traffic. The council members were told this by some of the more than 200 public commenters who spoke before the vote, most of them strongly in favor of Move Culver City, including young residents who pleaded with their leaders to consider the sorry state of the climate they will inherit.

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