Testing Set to Start on Orange Line Busway

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is advising pedestrians, joggers and bicyclists in the San Fernando Valley to stay out of the Orange Line busway corridor, because 60-foot buses will begin making test runs starting Sunday.

“We’ve noticed people on the transitway, walking their dogs or riding their bicycles -- things like that,” said Dave Sotero, an MTA spokesman. “They are trespassing on the line.”

Motorists also are warned to steer clear of the bus-only corridor and to heed the do-not-enter signs when driving across the Orange Line, which roughly parallels the Ventura Freeway about a mile to the north and intersects 36 streets.

Testing is expected to be sporadic Sunday. Starting Monday, silver Metro Liner buses will travel from 5 to 11 p.m. along the completed eastern portion of the east-west route, between its terminal near the North Hollywood Red Line subway stop and the Van Nuys Boulevard bus station.

The remainder of the busway, from Van Nuys to Warner Center, is under construction and expected to be paved by late September for end-to-end testing.

The completed 14-mile busway will have bike paths and 13 stops, including stations at Los Angeles Valley College, the Van Nuys Government Center, the Sepulveda Basin and Pierce College. Five park-and-ride lots along the way will provide more than 3,000 spaces.

The $345.5-million project, which has experienced construction delays and cost overruns because of litigation with busway opponents and heavy rains, is scheduled to open this fall.

“A lot of it depends on the testing we do now,” Sotero said. “Once we’re in that process, we’ll have a better way of determining when that line will open.”