The Board of Directors of California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has approved the Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) for the Burbank – Los Angeles high-speed rail section.
This action clears the way for full California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) clearance of nearly 483 km of the high-speed rail project’s 805-km Phase 1 alignment from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim line. As a result, 60% of Phase 1 System from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim has now the environmentally cleared.
This is the second certification of an environmental document in the Southern California region and the first in the Los Angeles Basin.
The approval is a “historic milestone and brings us closer to providing the first high-speed rail system in the United States,” the CEO of CHSRA Brian Kelly said.
The 22.5 km Burbank – Los Angeles high-speed rail section will connect system from a new Hollywood Burbank Airport Station to the existing Los Angeles Union Station. It will also provide an additional connection between the Downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.
The alignment for the section will primarily use existing rail right-of-way adjacent to the Los Angeles River through the cities of Burbank, Glendale and Los Angeles. High-speed rail service along this route will improve long-term air quality, decrease rail congestion and increase mobility.
The board certification of the final environmental document and approval of the Burbank to Los Angeles project section reaffirms the authority’s commitment to complete the environmental process for the full Phase 1 California high-speed rail system from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim by 2023.
The board will consider the final environmental documents for the San Jose to Merced and San Francisco to San Jose project sections in April and June of this year.
In August the authority has approved the EIR/EIS for the 129 km high-speed line from Bakersfield to Palmdale.
There is currently under construction 191.5 km of the high-speed rail system with 35 active construction sites in California’s Central Valley.
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