High Desert Corridor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Caltrans and LA Metro | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Connecting lines | California High-Speed Rail, Brightline West | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stations | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | highdesertcorridor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | High-speed railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line length | 54 mi (87 km) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrification | 25 kV 60 Hz AC overhead line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The High Desert Corridor is a proposed multimodal corridor in northern Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties in the U.S. state of California. The project, which will travel between Palmdale and Apple Valley through the High Desert region, would mainly consist of a high-speed rail line connecting the California High-Speed Rail system at its proposed Palmdale station with the Brightline West route at its proposed Victor Valley station. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
As of August 2024, the project has been in an early planning phase. Regulatory approval according to federal environmental legislation NEPA as well as funding for construction was still outstanding.
The project is managed by the High Desert Corridor Joint Powers Agency (HDC JPA), an entity owned by LA County, LA Metro, and surrounding cities. Project development has been funded mainly with contribution from the state of California and LA Metro. Federal funding has been limited to a $500,000 grant from the Corridor ID program administered by the FRA, [6] which provides seed funding for early planning and prioritizes the project for further federal funding, but does not guarantee it.
The first public meetings for the project were held in 2011 when the project was mainly a road project: The proposed freeway between Palmdale and Victorville would include a sufficient median as an option for any future high-speed rail or Metrolink connection. The first 50 out of 63 miles were estimated to cost $3 billion and were planned to be funded via a public-private partnership. [7] At the time, the California High-Speed Rail project had received its initial federal funding only two years prior and had not yet begun construction, whereas the planned high-speed link between Las Vegas and Southern California now being undertaken by Brightline West was a private project still under development under the name "DesertXpress".
In 2016, final documents of the environmental impact review led by Caltrans were published, clearing a requirement for planning approval set by Californian state law CEQA. The documents stated the intention to acquire enough right-of-way to sustain space for up to five freeway lanes in each direction and a high-speed rail line. [8]
As of February 2018, the freeway project cost was estimated at $8 billion and land acquisition was planned to commence in June that year, funded by $274 million in Measure M funds. The environmental advocacy group Climate Resolve filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of the environmental impact review. [9]
In September 2019, Caltrans settled the lawsuit put forth by Climate Resolve in 2016, which included the provision that the freeway portion of the project could not proceed absent a Supplemental Environmental Review (SEIR). However, the freeway was reportedly put on hold before the settlement due to a lack of necessity and funding. The rail and bike lane portion of the project were not affected. [10]
In June 2022, San Bernardino County withdrew from the then joint powers authority (JPA). The current JPA is a successor entity set up by its continuing members. [2]
Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the Western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Canada, passing through the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana. The Interstate serves the cities of San Diego, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Idaho Falls, and Great Falls. It also passes close to the urban areas of Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties, California. The stretches of I-15 in Idaho, Utah, and Arizona have been designated as the "Veterans Memorial Highway". The southern end is at a junction with I-8 and State Route 15 (SR 15) in San Diego, and the northern end is at a connection with Alberta Highway 4 at the Sweetgrass–Coutts Border Crossing.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), branded as Metro, is the county agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the public transportation system in Los Angeles County, California, the most populated county in the United States.
The Capitol Corridor is a 168-mile (270 km) passenger train route in Northern California operated by Amtrak between San Jose, in the Bay Area, and Auburn, in the Sacramento Valley. The route is named after the two points most trains operate between, San Jose and Sacramento. The route runs roughly parallel to I-880 and I-80. Some limited trips run between Oakland and San Jose. A single daily round trip runs between San Jose and Auburn, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Capitol Corridor trains started in 1991.
The San Joaquins is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak in California's San Joaquin Valley. Seven daily round trips run between its southern terminus at Bakersfield and Stockton, with onward service to Sacramento and Oakland. For Fiscal year 2025, two additional trips to Sacramento will be added.
State Route 138 is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that generally follows the northern foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and the western Mojave Desert. The scenic highway begins in the west at its junction with Interstate 5 located south of Gorman in the Sierra Pelona Mountains, continues eastward through the Antelope Valley and Cajon Pass, to its junction with State Route 18 in the east, located in the San Bernardino Mountains south of Crestline.
California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) is a publicly funded high-speed rail system being developed in California by the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Phase 1, about 494 miles (795 km) long, is planned to run from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim via the Central Valley, and is partially funded and under construction. A proposed Phase 2 would extend the system north to Sacramento and south to San Diego, for a total of 776 miles (1,249 km). The project was authorized by a 2008 statewide ballot to connect the state's major urban areas and reduce intercity travel times. Phase 1 targets a nonstop travel time of 2 hours and 40 minutes from San Francisco to Los Angeles, compared to about nine hours on the existing Amtrak San Joaquins.
A vast network of interconnected freeways in the megaregion of Southern California serves a population of over 23 million people. The Master Plan of Metropolitan Los Angeles Freeways was adopted by the Regional Planning Commission in 1947 and construction began in the early 1950s. The plan hit opposition and funding limitations in the 1970s, and by 2004, only some 61% of the original planned network had been completed.
Amtrak California is a brand name used by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Division of Rail for three state-supported Amtrak regional rail routes in California – the Capitol Corridor, the Pacific Surfliner, and the San Joaquins – and their associated connecting network of Amtrak Thruway transportation services.
The Victor Valley is a valley in the Mojave Desert and subregion of the Inland Empire, in San Bernardino County in Southern California.
The California–Nevada Interstate Maglev project was a proposed 269 mi (433 km) Maglev train line from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Anaheim, California. One segment would run from Las Vegas to Primm, Nevada, with proposed service to the Las Vegas area's forthcoming Ivanpah Valley Airport. The top speed would be 310 mph (500 km/h). Though $45 million was appropriated in 2005 for the planning phase for the first 40 mi (64 km) segment, the money was never spent, and was finally reallocated to a highway project in a Las Vegas Airport in June 2010. The maglev project was not in the 2012 transportation plan under consideration by the Southern California Association of Governments. Removing it from the plan means that the project cannot receive federal funds, even for studies. The Southern California Association of Governments did leave a small portion of the route – from Anaheim to Ontario – in their 2012 transportation plan.
Route 15, consisting of the contiguous segments of State Route 15 (SR 15) and Interstate 15 (I-15), is a major north–south state highway and Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego Counties. The route consists of the southernmost 289.24 miles (465.49 km) of I-15, which extends north through Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana to the Canada–US border. It is a major thoroughfare for traffic between San Diego and the Inland Empire, as well as between Southern California, Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Intermountain West.
The Palmdale Transportation Center is a multi-modal transportation center in the city of Palmdale, California. Featuring a Metrolink rail station, a local bus hub, and commuter bus hub, the center was completely rebuilt in April 2005. It features a "clock tower plaza" which has an enclosed waiting room with concessions and vending, public telephone, restrooms, a bus pass sales office, and security service. The center has four partially enclosed shelters at the bus hub and six partially enclosed shelters for the rail platform. The center also has a large park and ride facility.
Brightline West is a privately run high-speed rail route, currently under construction, to link the Las Vegas Valley and Rancho Cucamonga in Greater Los Angeles through the California high desert. The line will connect with existing rail at Rancho Cucamonga station of Metrolink's San Bernardino Line, a commuter rail line in Southern California. The project is intended to provide an alternative to air and automobile travel between Southern California and Las Vegas, a popular leisure destination. In December 2023, the United States Department of Transportation awarded Brightline West a $3 billion grant as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Construction, initially expected to begin shortly after the grant was announced in 2023, began on April 22, 2024. Revenue service is planned to start in 2028.
High Desert is a vernacular region with non-discrete boundaries covering areas of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California. The region encompasses various terrain with elevations generally between 2,000 and 4,000 ft above sea level, and is located just north of the San Gabriel, San Bernardino, and Little San Bernardino Mountains.
The West Santa Ana Branch is a rail right-of-way formerly used by the Pacific Electric's (PE) Santa Ana route in Los Angeles County and Orange County in Southern California. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) owns the segment of the right-of-way in Los Angeles County, and the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) owns the segment in Orange County.
Brightline is an intercity rail route in the United States that runs between Miami and Orlando, Florida. Part of the route runs on track owned and shared by the Florida East Coast Railway.
The California High-Speed Rail system will be built in two major phases. Phase I, about 520 miles (840 km) long using high-speed rail through the Central Valley, will connect San Francisco to Los Angeles. In Phase 2, the route will be extended in the Central Valley north to Sacramento, and from east through the Inland Empire and then south to San Diego. The total system length will be about 800 miles (1,300 km) long. Phase 2 currently has no timeline for completion.
The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) is the successor to San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG). They are responsible for administering the Measure I half-cent tax which voters in San Bernardino County, California, passed most recently in 2004. The SBCTA conducts transportation planning, construction, and operation in San Bernardino County. The SBCTA is a joint powers authority comprising the entire county and its cities. Every city and county supervisor is provided one seat on the board, and it also includes a nonvoting member from the California Department of Transportation's (Caltrans) District 8.
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