December 19: This Date in Los Angeles Transportation History

2006:  The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveils Metro “Real Time Traffic.”

The 24/7 traffic updates provide real-time information for freeways in Los angeles and Ventura counties as well as for major streets in the City of Los Angeles.

Within a year, the project is expected to be extended to traffic coverage in Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties.

More information can be found in the December 19, 2006 issue of the MyMetro employee news digest.

 

 

2007:  The Federal Transit Administration approves the Metro Bus-Only Lane project for Wilshire Boulevard in the City of Los Angeles, advancing the development phase under the Very Small Starts program.

While the project is not fully funded, it does allow Metro to work with the City of Los Angeles to create a project management plan and to begin drafting engineering and technical strategies for fully implementing the lane.

More information can be found in the December 19, 2007 issue of the MyMetro employee news digest.

 

 

2007:  The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority joins Chevron Energy Solutions in unveiling the largest solar panel installation at a single site within the U.S. transit industry to date at Metro’s Division 18 in Carson.

The 498-kilowatt system is comprised of 1,632 individual solar panels installed on the roof of the Carson bus division’s maintenance facility and six parking lot carport structures.  The installation is expected to generate 600,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough green renwable power to safve the division nearly $17,000 per month, or $200,000 per year.

The panels are expected to pay for themselves by 2018.

More information can be found in the December 19, 2007 Metro Press Release and the December 20, 2007 issue of the MyMetro employee news digest.