New Orleans approves Bus Rapid Transit project

New Orleans City Council has given the green light for a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line – the first of its kind in the metro area.

The project will use dedicated bus lanes and priority signals at traffic lights to move buses through the city faster and boost reliability.

Despite “overwhelming” support for the route in the public comments at City Council’s Transportation Committee meeting in February, the committee decided to defer the final decision on the BRT network to allow time to modify the resolution language to ensure the state and federal budget processes were met.

“We appreciate the New Orleans City Council’s deliberative and thoughtful consideration as well as their willingness to be a partner in our mission to more efficiently get our people to where they need to go,” said Lona Edwards Hankins, CEO, New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA).

“We are proud of the extensive outreach and engagement we conducted with our riders, our community partners, and our elected officials to create a plan of which everyone can be proud. We remain committed to continuing the dialogue with all of our stakeholders, listening to their needs and concerns, so that we always centre the community in our process going forward.”

With this approval from the City Council, the RTA will be able to apply for federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill for 50 percent of the estimated US$250-$350 million cost of the project.

Equity

The project will seek to improve equity in transportation, provide relief from traffic congestion and parking, boost neighbourhoods and the economy, and enhance New Orleans’ competitiveness among other major US cities.

City residents who don’t have a car and rely on public transportation can only reach seven percent of the metro area’s jobs in half an hour at midday, according to a 2022 analysis by local transit advocacy group RIDE New Orleans.

But nearly all of the region’s jobs – 96 percent – can be reached within half an hour by car.

RIDE also found that residents of specific neighbourhoods – New Orleans East, Algiers and the Lower 9th Ward – face longer commute times than the average New Orleans resident.

According to the RTA, BRT has the potential to reduce public transit commute times in New Orleans from 90 minutes to 60 minutes.

As part of its outreach and engagement process, the agency participated in over 67 meetings in order to get input on the initial design of the BRT route, and also ran a survey that generated nearly 1,000 responses.

Image: RTA