ACPA Concrete Pavement Progress - Quarter 3, 2021

A Look Back: Concrete Bus Lanes Improve Travel in Los Angeles Dedicated lane reduces congestion and supports heavy vehicles By Sheryl S. Jackson THROUGHOUT 2020, REMOTE WORK FOR MANY EMPLOYERS MEANT A DECREASE IN TRAFFIC CONGESTION and easier access to public trans- portation. As more employees return to the of- fice, traffic volume will increase and use of mass transit, including buses will increase in urban areas as well. As city, county or state agencies look for ways to repair roads to handle increased volume, the award-winning project completed six years ago for the Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) serves as an example of how concrete pavements can be used alongside asphalt pavements to handle high volume, heavy, turning traffic. With over 80,000 weekday bus boardings, Wilshire BRT was dealing with deteriorating curb lanes, with one of the most significant segments running 3.6 miles through a densely populated area. The poor condition of the curb lanes resulted in buses and other vehicles avoid- ing driving on them, which reduced the number of travel lanes to two in each direction, further increasing congestion. The Bureau of Engineering, Department of Public Works of the City of Los Angeles led the design and constructionof theWilshireBRT, andPsomas provided design services. The design called for removal of the concrete curb, gutters and asphalt curb lanes, and for construction of monolithic concrete curb and curb lanes in their place. Bus stops and shelterswere relocated fromthe nearside of the intersections to the far side of the intersec- tions. Repairing, grinding and resurfacing the two east and two westbound travel lanes and the center median / left turn lane, and re-striping the roadway to convert the east and west bound curb lanes to weekday peak period bus and right-turn only lanes were also components of the project. “Concrete is the preferred pavement for the lane that served as a bus and right-turn-only lane as well as the bus pads at the bus shelters and stops due to the heavy volume and the constant continues on page 14 » C O N C R E T E B U S L A N E S www.acpa.org Quarter 3, 2021 13