Sacramento County paid $1.5 million to build a bus-only lane. Now, no bus uses it
A dedicated bus lane along one of Sacramento County’s most congested corridors and cost $1.5 million to build has not been used since fall.
The 1-mile stretch of express bus lanes on Watt Avenue between Folsom Boulevard and La Riviera Drive over Highway 50 was completed in 2015 as part of a $39 million project to widen the busy highway interchange and usher in more multifaceted transportation throughout Sacramento.
Part of the project included a single bus lane down the center of Watt Avenue bordered by raised curbs to keep cars out and give buses run by Sacramento Regional Transit quick access across the American River.
But since September, no RT bus has used the dedicated bus lanes on Watt Avenue. That’s when the agency cut the only route along that stretch of Watt Avenue as part of the largest bus network redesign in its history last fall.
Route 80 had been the only RT route using the bus-only lane when it opened five years ago. It’s now combined with Route 84, which bypasses Watt Avenue to run near surrounding neighborhoods, hugging the RT light rail line along Folsom Boulevard and cutting back across La Riviera Drive.
“When we were redesigning our bus network, we took into consideration the infrastructure in place, but decided that providing bus service to areas where people live and work was the most important factor,” said RT spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez in an email.
The total cost of the bus lane on the 50/Watt interchange was about $1.5 million including construction and engineering, said county spokesman Matt Robinson.
The overall interchange improvement project was paid for by Sacramento County local funds (including revenue from a half-cent sales tax Measure A passed in 2004) and by federal and state grants.
Watt Avenue had “long been identified” as a candidate for bus priority lanes because of the bumper-to-bumper traffic lining the major artery to and from Arden Arcade — traffic that’s only expected to grow as the county’s population increases.
Across the country, from Denver to Chicago to Boston, cities are increasingly looking to bus-only lanes to cut down on trip time, reduce congestion and increase safety. Just last month, San Francisco banned private cars on one of the busiest sections of Market Street, paving the way for increased bicyclists, streetcar and bus use.
Adding permanent infrastructure on Watt Avenue to support bus service during the interchange construction project was a cost-effective way to plan and prepare for the future, Gonzalez said.
RT is currently working on a study to identify other corridors that could include bus-only lanes in the future, Gonzalez said. And with more funding, the agency would look to add bus service along Watt Avenue — including on the section with the dedicated bus lane.
One possible source of funding: Measure A, a new county sales tax measure to generate $8 billion over the next 40 years for transportation projects that will likely be placed on the November ballot.
Local leaders are still ironing out the details of how, if passed, that revenue should be spent — to expand public transit services, fix dilapidated roads, improve street safety for pedestrians and bicyclist, or address any number of existing mobility issues in Sacramento County.
Sixty-three percent of likely Sacramento voters said traffic congestion on freeways and highways is a very serious problem, according to a recent poll gauging voter interest by the Sacramento Transportation Authority.
About 35 percent indicated that building express bus-only lanes on major streets like Sunrise and Stockton boulevards, Watt Avenue and Florin Road is very important.
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.