Sacramento expanding rapid bus network to South Sacramento
(FOX40.COM) — South Sacramento residents could have an easier and faster way of accessing the central areas of Sacramento with a rapid bus line along Stockton Boulevard.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Sacramento City Council approved plans for the Stockton Boulevard Multimodal Partnership and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridor Project.
The project will connect South Sacramento to the Sacramento Valley Station by way of Stockton Boulevard, Broadway and through Downtown Sacramento.
“The installation of BRT treatments along Stockton Boulevard will provide a direct, convenient, and safe travel route for community residents, while pedestrian and bicycle improvements will provide convenient access for surrounding neighborhoods to the community center, essential resources, and economic centers – both adjacent to this corridor and accessible by public transportation,” a City of Sacramento reads.
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Estimated costs to complete preliminary engineering and environmental documentation for the project will be $5.85 million.
The coalition is looking for $650,000 in initial funding from federal grants and the State and Federal Grant Match Program.
An additional $5.2 million is planned to come in the 2024-2025 fiscal year from state and federal funds.
Councilmember Eric Guerra said that the idea for this project began in 2015 when the community was first brought together to discuss the idea of reimagining mass transit along the former arterial roadway.
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“Stockton Boulevard can no longer be the old Highway 99 that it once used to be and in fact we should go back to an earlier time when we actually had the street car down the center of Stockton Boulevard,” Guerra said during Tuesday’s meeting.
The council’s decision on Tuesday does not mean that residents can expect to see shovels in the ground anytime soon. There is no publicly shared timeline of when rapid buses will be operating along Stockton Boulevard.
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