In December, a mom on Long Island, New York, watched her young daughter get onto a school bus, then had to jump out of the way when a car came speeding past on the shoulder. That same month in Minnesota, a child leaving his school bus had to run to avoid being hit by a pickup truck.

Drivers nationwide continue to barrel illegally past stopped school buses, endangering children and caregivers — and sometimes worse. But some states have found it hard to enforce relatively new laws allowing on-board bus camera systems that record the violations.

Recent deaths during school bus stops include those of a parent and student in separate Texas crashes last year and of a high school student in Pennsylvania in 2022. They highlight continued careless driving around school buses despite flashing stop signs and obvious camera lenses. The recklessness may be part of a pattern of more aggressive driving noted by authorities that has caused more traffic deaths despite fewer miles driven overall since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A survey of school bus drivers last year, conducted by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, estimated 242,000 vehicles illegally passed school buses in a single day. That was up from the 232,000 estimate for 2019. That year, seven states passed laws to allow automatic camera surveillance to catch suspected violators.

Almost half of states have such laws now. Massachusetts and Oregon considered, but didn’t pass, similar legislation last year. A school bus camera program in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was held up last year amid debates in the state legislature over the size of fines and their impact on low-income communities.

But there are several reasons why enforcement might not have been as effective as intended.

Some safety authorities object to new camera laws that reduced fines and excluded license points and other more punitive actions allowed when the same violations are caught in person by law enforcement. Legislatures may have softened school bus penalties to gain consensus among skeptical lawmakers, authorities say.

Some states also are struggling with the limitations of cameras when it comes to enforcing laws requiring evidence police officers can see in person but cameras might not catch. The cameras might not show school bus markings mentioned in the law or whether students are actively getting on or off buses. Another technical issue: School bus cameras have flagged cars on different streets or in lanes separated by medians, where they’re not legally required to stop.

How it works

Typically, the automatic cameras are engaged when a bus driver turns on a flashing stop sign, triggering a computer program that detects violations and sends them to reviewers to check before mailing a violation notice. But the cameras can’t capture everything.

On New York’s Long Island, a state appeals court threw out a $250 ticket in November, saying evidence from bus cameras isn’t enough to prove a violation. Judges on the court said the camera did not establish that the school bus had correct markings or that it was actively picking up or dropping off passengers at the time of the ticket. That decision could endanger $25 million in annual fines from one county alone if other tickets are struck down.

In Pittsburgh, a district court judge told Stateline he dismisses most cases based on school bus cameras for insufficient evidence from the cameras.

Judge James Motznik said he also objects to the way Pennsylvania’s law, like most state laws allowing automatic camera evidence to identify bus-passing violations, undermines a traffic law that’s more punitive. The camera violations are issued as “civil complaints” with a lower fine and no loss of license points as required by the original traffic law against passing a stopped school bus.

“It was sold as a deterrent to enhance public safety,” Motznik said. “But it’s actually less of a deterrent. If a police officer witnessed this, there’d be a $500 fine, a license suspension, points toward losing your license. A camera sees the same thing, it’s $300 and goodbye.”

State legislatures sometimes have used less-punitive fines, without license points or suspensions, as a bargaining chip to reach agreement on camera enforcement such as school bus cameras, said Russ Martin, senior director of policy and government relations for the Governors Highway Safety Association.

“The thought was like, ‘We can make this more accepted by the public.’” Martin said. “But there’s another side to it. In some ways the points are more important than the fines for the worst violators — it means you can’t just pay your way out.”

Pennsylvania’s law on school bus cameras was updated last year partly to allow a lower-cost way for motorists to contest tickets, using a state hearing officer in a free process instead of a court that requires filing fees, said Jennifer Kuntch, a spokesperson for the state transportation department. Pittsburgh schools recorded more than 9,000 violations since the bus camera program began in July, the district announced last month.

On Long Island, the appeals court decision against the red-light camera evidence endangers not only Suffolk County’s program, which receives the $25 million in fine revenue a year, but also nearby Nassau County, where a class-action lawsuit is underway on behalf of 132,000 drivers with similar fines.

The appeals court ruling was vexing for local governments, said Paul Sabatino, an attorney and former Suffolk County legislative counsel. Cameras are a necessary part of enforcing the law against passing stopped school buses, he said.

“You can’t allow people to endanger children like that, and you can’t call out the National Guard to watch every school bus at every stop,” Sabatino said.

Many school districts use contractors such as Virginia-based BusPatrol, which claims 90% of the market for school bus cameras, with some competition from others such as RedSpeed USA and American Bus Video. The companies may include school bus stop-arm cameras within a package of other automated traffic enforcement.

Justin Meyers, president of BusPatrol, said the company already has addressed evidence questions in New York state by adding to its “evidence packets” the school bus markings and maps showing the bus is on an established route. Suffolk County is the company’s biggest customer, and BusPatrol has made a $40 million investment in equipping school buses there, Meyers said in an interview. It also operates in Pittsburgh.

The company uses computer algorithms and artificial intelligence to detect violations, which are then screened for accuracy by a BusPatrol employee before going to local law enforcement for a final decision on whether to issue a violation notice, Meyers said.

Few statistics available

There are few statistics on the extent of deaths and injuries from passing stopped school buses. Pennsylvania reviewed crash records at Stateline’s request and said 12 such crashes occurred in 2022 and 13 in 2021, with one death in each year — one a student, one a parent — and 23 injuries across both years. Those figures include a crash that killed a 16-year-old high school student in November 2022 as she was trying to board a school bus in York County.

Across the country, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found 53 fatalities, half of them school-age children, between 2000 and 2021 in accidents involving illegal passing of a school bus, according to an analysis requested by Stateline.

In Minnesota, school districts can apply for state funds to install school bus cameras. The Edina school district sought money last year after an “alarming” increase in bus-passing violations reported by bus drivers, along with two injuries to students, according to a press account in the local Sun Current newspaper. The district won $105,000 for cameras, a cost of about $4,000 per bus, and in January reported drivers had been ticketed for 70% of passing violations noticed by bus drivers, up from 5% without cameras.

In one of the Texas fatalities last year, a woman helping her child onto a bus in Upshur County was killed by a vehicle passing the bus, Sgt. Adam Albritton, a spokesperson for the state Department of Public Safety, told Stateline. The crash was reported, a driver was charged with manslaughter, and police are reviewing footage from a video camera on the bus for evidence, Albritton said.

Texas was an early adopter of video cameras to catch school bus passing violations, commissioning a 2008 study on such cameras. The state did not include school bus cameras in its ban on automated traffic enforcement in 2019. Not all school districts participate, but Austin, Dallas and San Antonio are among those that do.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Inspectors found hazardous stacks of wood pallets, gas canisters, tires and other highly flammable materials at multiple properties beneath the 101, 10 and 5 freeways over the past three months, according to the newly released inspection reports.

In some cases, Caltrans tenants had constructed makeshift living quarters without permission, including a company that set up a gym, office and kitchen complete with a propane-powered grill amid rows of wooden movie set pieces.

Another appeared to have used a warehouse leased by the state as an illegal marijuana grow house. Inspectors found unpermitted additions to create grow rooms, spliced wiring, obstructed sprinklers and massive CO2 canisters tagged with “condemned” labels from the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The California Department of Cannabis Control did not list any active licenses within the vicinity of the property.

Lax oversight not isolated

The state fire marshal’s findings suggest the lax oversight that led to the 10 Freeway fire was not an isolated incident. In that case, Caltrans’ own inspectors had repeatedly flagged hazards at the East 14th Street site where the blaze began.

The tenant, Apex Development, had subleased to a dozen small businesses, including a pallet company, a mechanic and others, without Caltrans’ permission.

Though Apex allegedly hadn’t paid rent in three years, Caltrans did not initiate the eviction process until September 2023, just a few months before the wood pallets, hand sanitizer bottles and trailers improperly stored on site were ignited by a suspected arsonist.

Caltrans Director Tony Tavares, in a Feb. 6 memo to Gov. Gavin Newsom, acknowledged the eviction took longer than it should have and pledged to streamline the process in the future to create quicker turnarounds.

“Although Caltrans served the tenant notice to vacate the premises in November 2020, an unlawful detainer action to remove the tenant from the property was not filed until September 2023,” Tavares wrote. “The delay in this case was due, in part, to COVID-era limitations on eviction actions for nonpayment.”

The Nov. 11 fire quickly consumed the densely packed pallets, creating an inferno that damaged the freeway’s supports. The 10 was closed to traffic for roughly eight days while crews worked around the clock to repair the damage.

Top-to-bottom review

In response to the fire, Newsom ordered Caltrans to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the state’s “airspace” leasing program, which rents 601 state-owned properties beneath freeways and bridges as a revenue source for mass transportation projects.

Caltrans identified 47 potentially risky sites while conducting an inventory of the leases. All 15 in the city of Los Angeles failed their most recent fire inspections, according to the reports.

Inspectors did not identify any sites in Riverside or Orange counties. Two properties in San Bernardino County failed their inspections for minor violations — one near the 215 Freeway was inaccessible to inspectors, while the other, near the 10 Freeway in Ontario, had a single unpermitted trailer on a dirt lot.

Missing fire extinguishers, broken sprinklers

Many of the airspace properties examined by the state fire marshal had similar violations: missing fire extinguishers and alarms, broken or blocked sprinklers and dangerously daisy-chained or spliced wires.

Some had obvious unpermitted construction, while others openly stored wood pallets, damaged cars, gas canisters, car batteries and other hazardous materials prohibited by Caltrans’ leases.

During an inspection of a self-storage business tucked next to the 101, inspectors found units filled to the brim with car tires, boxes of documents, clothes and even trash.

Another business operated a retail hydroponics shop open to the public, though the site wasn’t permitted for such a use, according to the reports.

At least three properties appeared to have people living on site, either in makeshift bedrooms hidden within industrial warehouses or in trailers stored beneath the freeways.

Working to address problem sites

Tavares, in his Feb. 6 memo to Newsom, said the department is working to address these problematic sites, either by ordering the tenant to fix the safety issues or by initiating legal action.

Tavares acknowledged the airspace program’s failings in the memo and laid out a series of recommendations designed to prevent a repeat of the 10 Freeway fire.

“Since Caltrans first began leasing Airspace sites in the 1970s, the properties have benefited small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and local governments, including being used as a hub to connect transit users with buses, trains, and other clean energy transportation opportunities,” Tavares wrote in the memo. “Nonetheless, as demonstrated by the recent I-10 fire, the Airspace program also presents risks.”

Caltrans’ review of the program is ongoing and will “take into account the benefits and risks of the program, as well as explore potential program improvements to mitigate risks,” the memo states.

Tavares’ recommendations include requiring credit and background checks for prospective tenants; strictly barring subleasing; increasing the frequency of inspections and maintaining an up-to-date inventory of the current leases.

Caltrans previously did not have a combined inventory of all the airspace leases and had to create one through paper records stored at multiple district offices, the memo states.

Enforcement left to staff discretion

The review found that about 83% of the airspace leases were inspected annually, as required. However, the department’s policy left the initiation of enforcement actions to staff’s discretion, Tavares noted. One of his recommendations would require staff to take action whenever a violation is found.

The policy previously required approval by the Caltrans director to start the eviction process for any airspace lease. Tavares has recommended expanding that authority to right-of-way managers and division chiefs. If a staff member requests approval to evict a tenant, a response would be required within 30 days, the memo states.

Caltrans also did not have standardized lease terms and had used an outdated statutory definition when prohibiting “hazardous” materials. In the future, Tavares wants future leases for “open storage” to specifically spell out what materials are prohibited and to set requirements for how other materials should be stored.

“Caltrans should not approve ‘open storage’ as a permissible site use without greater specificity as to materials to be stored,” Tavares wrote.

The list of prohibited materials would include: oil, gasoline, lumber, pallets, wood chips, landscaping materials, nonoperable vehicles, plastic piping/tubing, tires, paper products, fabrics, batteries and cleaning supplies in industrial quantities.

Almost all of those were found during the fire marshal’s recent inspections in Los Angeles and are already prohibited by the Federal Highway Administration.

Stairs leading down to the coastal path at Dije Court, El Portal and Lasuen Beach were added to the list of closed access points Wednesday evening due to continuing instability of the area.

The list of pathway closures now includes:

– North Beach to Mariposa

– Linda Lane to Corto Lane

– Boca Del Canon to Lasuen

The trail sections are expected to be closed at least through the weekend, city officials said.

OC Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley weighed in on the closures, urging people to avoid the impacted areas along the beach trail as the city continues to assess the damage from the recent rainfall.

“These closures are yet another reminder of our climate reality and the effects climate change and coastal erosion have on our communities,” she said in a statement.

Soil and debris where a landslide occurred more than two weeks ago continued to inch toward the track below, pushing into the rail right-of-way near Mariposa Point, according to an Orange County Transportation Authority update Thursday evening.

Debris had already damaged the bridge at that stretch of the coastal walking path and sections had to be removed.

The track itself remains stable, according to Metrolink, and freight trains were set to run again overnight but passenger service remains halted through the area. The OCTA and Metrolink team will continue to assess movement of the slope and inspect the track, officials said.

The team removed on Thursday most of the plastic tarps covering the landslide that were damaged by the recent rain and wind to get a better look at the condition of the slope – some cracking was observed, OCTA officials said. Some areas were still too muddy.

The California Transportation Commission has finalized authorization of OCTA’s $2 million request for debris removal and other pre-construction services, which will be used to continue cleanup once the storms pass.

OCTA and Metrolink also continue to plan for construction of a barrier wall “to protect the track and work toward determining when at least limited passenger service can safely resume through San Clemente,” the latest update said.

At a city meeting earlier this week, Councilmember Chris Duncan noted that he would like to ensure city staff coordinates with OCTA on the plans for the barrier wall so the pedestrian bridge destroyed in the initial slide on Jan. 24 can be rebuilt.

“If you put it in the wrong place, it would basically interrupt any chance for our beach trail to be rebuilt,” he said.  “That barrier wall might be in the middle of where the bridge was … we don’t want something done that would impede us rebuilding our beach trail.”

San Clemente resident Benny Caday was out for his brisk morning stroll Thursday morning when he learned the northern end of the beach trail was closed. Instead of the usual scenic trail walk he typically does, he planned on lapping the parking lot.

“It seems to be accelerating, as far as the times there are slides and interruptions,” he said. “It’s disappointing, I’m trying to look at some of the other routes and trails – although there’s nothing that beats the scenic beach trail to the pier. It sets me for the day – it’s very serene, you see the ocean waves when you are walking down and you get the sunshine.”

On Friday, Feb. 2, fourth and fifth graders from Ascot Avenue Elementary School in South L.A. were invited to L.A. Union Station to meet with M. Keith Claybrook, an associate professor of Africana Studies at Cal State Long Beach. The students learned about Parks and the legacy she had on both civil rights and public transportation.

The students were also given a chance to board L.A. Metro’s Rosa Parks-era bus.

Transit Equity Day is celebrated annually on the birthday of Rosa Parks who, by refusing to give up her seat on a public transit bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, helped to launch the civil rights movement in the U.S., Metro officials said in a press release.

The event marks “an annual day of action highlighting the efforts of transit providers, labor unions and climate justice advocates to promote equity in public transportation,” officials said.

On Sunday, Feb. 4 — Transit Equity Day — all L.A. Metro and Metrolink trains, buses, Metro Micro rideshare services, bikeshare and other public transport services will be free.

Regional transit partners with the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC), and the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) also announced they will all offer free rides on buses, trains and other public transit services on Transit Equity Day Sunday.

Visit www.metro.net for more information and transit options.

Staff writers Steve Scauzillo and Allyson Vergara contributed to this report. 

The state on Thursday issued an official emergency declaration for the landslide threatening a regional rail line where it passes through San Clemente, following a slope failure Jan. 24 that also destroyed a popular pedestrian bridge along the neighboring coastal trail.

Orange County Transportation Authority CEO Darrell E. Johnson sent a letter to Caltrans Director Tony Tavares, asking for the declaration that will allow OCTA to access up to $10 million in emergency funding to help with protecting the track and restoring passenger service as soon as possible, according to an announcement.

“I’m grateful for the state’s partnership and for recognizing what an important issue this is for regional mobility,” Johnson said in a statement.

The 351-mile Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor, or LOSSAN, runs beachfront through parts of San Clemente. The OCTA owns the train tracks in Orange County and they are managed by Metrolink, which along with Amtrak has not been able to offer passenger service further south than San Juan Capistrano since last week’s landslide.

Freight trains have been able to resume use of the rail line at very reduced speeds at night and in the early-morning hours.

“Though minimal, hillside movement continues to be recorded and, with the ongoing heavy rain, there is still no definitive timetable for passenger rail service to resume at this point,” OCTA officials said. Limited passenger service could be restored during construction of the wall, officials said.

“I’m tremendously appreciative to all of our partnering rail agencies and, of course, to the state, for the partnership and working together to deal with the emergency and pursue a solution to restore service,” Johnson said. “We all know how vital this rail line is for Orange County and for the region.”

Plastic tarp has been set out on the slope and storm-water mitigation measures were been put in place as storms batter the region this week.

Over the past three years, San Clemente’s eroding bluffs have repeatedly forced the closure of the rail line, which had “operated largely uninterrupted for more than 125 years,” according to OCTA.

The latest barrier wall will be the third built to secure San Clemente’s slipping slopes and protect the tracks from sliding land.

Costs are mounting for the continued slope failures. 

Already, OCTA and the state have spent $27.7 million responding to landslides in San Clemente since 2022. The city has also spent an estimated $8.5 million to secure the slope at the historic Casa Romantica following a landslide last year.

The Irvine-based luxury automaker is turning 10. Inside those years are some bumpy beginnings.

From a startup to bust and then reborn again (twice), the company is eking out a name in the luxury car world with three new models hitting the roadways this year and into 2026.

After two rocky years before the pandemic struck in 2020, the automaker is ready to start adding jobs again at its headquarters in Orange County and manufacturing plant in Moreno Valley.

The company today counts about 300 workers, but President Marques McCammon said Karma will eventually need to hire another 300 to 500 employees to meet production demands. To make that happen, the automaker is looking to create workforce development and training initiatives with local universities to prod students into the green transportation economy.

“We will be designing prototypes for all of our vehicles, and as that portfolio grows we’ll add more engineers and technicians, and there will also be more area suppliers,” McCammon said.

Startup days

Karma’s path has not been without challenges. Its origins in 2007 as Fisker Automotive met an early demise after its battery supplier A123 Systems went bankrupt. Wanxiang, a Chinese automotive conglomerate, bought the assets of both businesses in 2014 for $400 million and renamed the company Karma.

The company’s first EV was the Karma Revero. But on April 11, 2019, Karma issued a recall and stop-sale order on all Reveros, due to a flaw in the rollover sensors that could disable the car’s side-curtain airbags.

The resulting financial difficulties prompted the layoff of 200 employees at its Irvine headquarters in November 2019 and 60 more the following year.

To put the company back on track, several executives were let go last year. McCammon, formerly with Chrysler Corp. and then Daimler-Chrysler, was brought on board to lead the company’s operations.

Karma engineers, designs and manufactures its electric and range-extended EVs in Southern California. The company maintains a 500,000-square-foot production facility in Moreno Valley and the vehicles are sold throughout North America, Europe, South America and the Middle East.

“North America is our biggest market by far,” McCammon said. “We have 32 dealerships and 22 of them are in North America.”

That includes dealerships in Murrieta, Las Vegas and Scottsdale, among other locations.

The company has sold about 1,000 of its luxury vehicles to date. That equates to an average of 100 cars a year.

“We’ve always existed as a niche vehicle maker, and we’re comfortable with that,” McCammon said. “In terms of luxury vehicles, we’re probably the closest to Ferrari. They do 15,000 units a year, but I don’t see us reaching that scale in the near future.”

Joseph Yoon, a consumer insights analyst with Edmunds, said Karma caters to a niche market of buyers with deep pockets.

“It’s hard to gauge what they consider a success,” he said. “It’s not like they’re building compact SUVs for young families. They’re serving a very small slice of the market.”

In November, Karma announced its three new models:

Revero: A return of Karma’s signature range-extended hybrid electric touring sedan, this updated version has an 80-mile electric range and a combined gas/electric range of 360 miles. It will be available in the third quarter of 2024 for around $145,000.

Gyesera: Karma’s first full all-electric sports touring sedan features rear-wheel drive, a 250-mile range and a 11.6-inch infotainment screen. It will be available in the fourth quarter of 2024, priced at $190,000.

Kaveya: The full-battery electric super coupe will be available in two versions. One, with a top speed of 180 mph, a 250-plus mile range and butterfly doors, will be available in the fourth quarter of 2026. The other, with rear-wheel drive and 536 horsepower, will be released in the fourth quarter of 2025. The estimated sticker price for the cars will be “north of $300,000,” McCammon said.

Karma’s buyers include Jay Leno, who owns a custom Karma Revero GS6 that was recently highlighted on his TV show, “Jay Leno’s Garage.”

“I drove it for about a month and put about 700 miles on it,” Leno said as he showcased the car. “I didn’t use any gas because I got about 80 miles free every day. And by free, I mean electric. I have to admit, the more I drove it the more I liked it.”

A growing market

A new report from Kelley Blue Book found a record 1.2 million U.S. vehicle buyers chose to go electric last year. In 2023, EVs accounted for 7.6% of total US vehicle sales, the company said, up from 5.9% in 2022.

EV sales in the fourth quarter of 2023 set a record for both volume and share — 317,168 and 8.1%, respectively. But demand has slowed.

KBB said EV growth will continue to slow, possibly displaying the first quarter-over-quarter sales decline in more than three years.

Yoon explained the slowdown this way:

“EV makers have run out of early adopters,” he said. “They’re trying to get people who weren’t really into EVs to buy them, and it’s a bit difficult.”

He said buyers have strong reservations about the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

“I live across from a big mall that has all sorts of EV chargers, but they’re always occupied,” he said. “And if you get outside of big urban areas, people will worry. ‘Oh, maybe I can’t go see my family because there are no chargers there.’ “

Several governments are providing tax subsidies on the purchase of luxury and economy electric vehicles, but California has taken the EV push a step further.

In August 2022, the California Air Resources Board approved an advanced clean-cars rule that will require all new cars sold in 2035 and beyond to be zero-emission vehicles, including EVs and plug-in hybrid electrics.

Karma has also developed its own EV battery production facility at its Moreno Valley facility, and the company plans to create a clean energy corridor between Irvine and Moreno Valley, a project aimed at improving air quality in the region.

“We’ll have charging infrastructure on both sides and energy storage available to customers for their homes,” McCammon said. “We’re also partnering with another company to provide charging for commercial vehicles.”

The market for commercial EVs is also ramping up.

Riverside officials recently cleared the way for Ohmio, a New Zealand maker of autonomous electric shuttles, to move its international headquarters to the city.

Costa Mesa-based Rove has also broken ground on a mega-center in Santa Ana that will boast 40 fast-charging stations, a grab-and-go market, car wash, 24-hour lounge, free WiFi and restrooms.

And Brea-based EV automaker Mullen Automotive recently launched production of its Mullen Three Class 3 truck at the company’s assembly plant in Tunica, Miss. With a range of 120 miles and a hauling capacity of 5,800 pounds, the vehicle was created for businesses that make short-haul deliveries, a Mullen representative said.

Both projects plan to use automated people movers to connect their respective destinations to Los Angeles County’s existing Metro Rail system.

A new report from Fitch Ratings suggests the first of the two projects — the LAX Automated People Mover Project, originally slated to open in 2023 — likely will not be finished until April 2025 due to repeated construction delays and a “strained relationship” between the builder-operator, LAX Integrated Express Solutions, or LINXS, and Los Angeles World Airports.

Meanwhile, the Federal Transit Authority, which has pledged more than $1 billion to the separate Inglewood Transit Connector, now expects that project will not be completed in time for the 2028 Olympics as planned, and instead will open in 2030.

LAX project’s bond rating drops

Fitch downgraded its bond rating for the LAX project earlier this month as a result of the anticipated delays and gave it an overall “negative outlook,” suggesting it could receive another downgrade in the future, according to a Jan. 19 report.

“The project has experienced extended construction delays, prolonged dispute resolution, and difficulties in the parties’ working relationship,” the report states. “Although significant construction progress has been made, the project is required to undergo a rigorous testing and commissioning process and is not expected to be completed until April 2025.”

The 2.25-mile elevated train system connecting LAX to parking, car rental services and Metro’s K Line is about 96% complete, according to the report. The People Mover is part of a $5.5 billion modernization effort at LAX.

The project’s completion date has slipped several times already amid fighting between LAWA and LINXS. Previously, LAWA served LINXS with a default notice in July 2023 for allegedly abandoning additional roadway work. The two sides later settled that dispute, but a subsequent report issued later that year by a technical adviser indicated the two sides were once again battling over the project’s progress.

In an email, a spokesperson said LAWA is “in active discussions with the Automated People Mover (APM) contractor to resolve outstanding claims and has no additional information at this time.”

Inglewood project could miss Olympics

The $2 billion Inglewood Transit Connector, another people mover project, will similarly connect to the Metro K Line and work in tandem with LAX’s future transit system to allow visitors to travel from the airport to the Kia Forum, SoFi Stadium and the Los Angeles Clippers’ soon-to-be-completed Intuit Dome without ever using a car. Officials hope the project will reduce traffic around the city’s sports and entertainment venues.

The project has long been pitched as a potential public transit option for the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will host its opening ceremony, as well as football and archery competitions, at SoFi Stadium. The FTA, however, now anticipates the service will not be ready until two years later, in 2030, according to a project profile updated in early January.

City officials had previously said the project was “highly unlikely” to be ready in time for the Super Bowl’s 2027 return to the city.

The ITC has amassed roughly $1.9 billion in funding from federal, state and local sources. A joint powers authority, formed by the city and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is expected to select the team that will implement the project from three prequalified bidders later this summer.

In a statement, Inglewood spokesperson Lisa Richardson said the estimated completion date is subject to change as a result.

“The FTA, through their risk-informed modeling process has set a passenger service date of March 2030, but we are in the middle of a procurement process, and we will be more comfortable with a projected date after that is completed,” she said.

The delays in both projects were first reported by KTLA.

The more than a century-old railroad bridge in San Juan Capistrano will be replaced with a three-span girder bridge in coordination with the Orange County Transportation Authority and Metrolink, a project expected to be completed by late 2026.

The bridge will be demolished and a new one constructed just west of the existing structure. A new foundation will be constructed on top of the existing bridge for a potential second one in the future; albeit, there are no plans yet in the works for a second structure, said OCTA Spokesperson Eric Carpenter.

During construction, train delays — for commuter and freight service — are expected, but the San Juan Creek Bridge will remain open and operational until the new structure is finished.

“There is no planned service disruption as this bridge is being built,” said Carpenter. “While the construction could require a brief, overnight closure, passengers would see minimal, if any, disruption to regular service.”

Delays and adjustments to the rail service will be posted on Metrolink’s website.

For now, the streets around the railroad bridge — Del Obispo, Camino Capistrano and Paseo Adelanto — are not expected to be closed during construction, but that could be subject to change, said Carpenter. Additionally, the adjacent Descanso Park is expected to remain open.

The San Juan Creek walking and bike trail will have to close during the construction from Camino Capistrano to Descanso Park, however.

The trail is expected to be closed for up to 30 months, said Carpenter, and a detour route will be installed on Del Obispo and Camino Capistrano as well as Trabuco Trail. Officials don’t have a date yet for when the trail will close.

The bridge is being replaced to “enhance safety, reduce maintenance needs and meet current design and bridge load standards,” said Carpenter.

The total cost for the replacement project is estimated at $65.6 million. The project is funded by $1.4 million in local sales tax dollars for transportation improvements, administered by OCTA, as well as $22.9 million in state funds and $41.6 million in federal funds, said Carpenter.

Aside from planned construction projects, the LOSSAN rail corridor has experienced many delays in recent years — and weeks — due to landslides.

Last week, a landslide caused a slope failure and halted rail service around San Clemente, just a few miles south of the San Juan Creek railroad bridge. That marked the fifth service interruption in three years along this stretch due to landslides, according to OCTA.

As of Wednesday, Jan. 31, service is not operating between Laguna Niguel and Oceanside, which includes the San Juan Capistrano station and San Juan Creek railroad bridge, due to the falling debris.

“We don’t anticipate the emergency work in San Clemente having any impact on the timeline on the San Juan Creek Bridge construction project,” said Carpenter. “Both are important to maintaining service on the line and keeping this vital rail line operating for years to come.”

Built in 1917, the San Juan Creek railroad bridge services Metrolink, Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner and various freight trains.

An estimated 500 passengers either board or disembark Metrolink trains at the San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente and Oceanside stations. On weekdays, an estimated 14 trains operate through the area and another 12 on weekends, Metrolink spokesperson Scott Johnson said. Amtrak runs 10 northbound and 10 southbound trains through the area daily.

More information about the project can be found on OCTA’s website.

The construction and project team brought in continues to work to secure the landslide area and facilitate more efficient water drainage, according to Scott Johnson spokesperson for Metrolink, which hasn’t been able to run its trains south of San Juan Capistrano since the middle of last week.

Extensive tarping of the landslide area has taken place in preparation for the impending rain.

“Through the efforts of Metrolink’s track department, along with the grading and excavating contractor, the project team is observing a decrease in hillside movement above the San Clemente right-of-way near the Mariposa Pedestrian Bridge,” Johnson said in an email Tuesday, Jan. 30. Damaged sections of the bridge had to be removed last week.

BNSF started running freight trains through the area at 10 mph between 9 p.m. Monday evening and 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

“Inspections of the track and a confirmation that it is safe to proceed will occur before and after each freight train passes,” an announcement said. “Along with the continued movement of the hillside, a major factor of why freight trains are allowed to pass San Clemente at night and passenger trains are not allowed during the day, is the constricted right-of-way and limited space for construction material and personnel.”

There is no definitive timeline for when passenger train movement can safely resume through the area.

Metrolink trains are only operating as far south as the Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo Station weekdays. For more information on schedules or updates, go to metrolinktrains.com.

“Despite the extensive efforts of Metrolink’s track department, along with the grading and excavating contractor, significant soil movement continues on the hillside above the San Clemente right-of-way near the Mariposa pedestrian bridge,” he said in an email Monday morning.

The landslide last week was the latest in a series of slope failures in recent years that have halted rail service along the coastal line.

Two segments of the Mariposa Bridge damaged from the most recent landslide in San Clemente have been removed and there’s no word on how long it will take to replace the damaged bridge, which is part of a popular pedestrian trail that runs along the coastline.

Saturday night, three BNSF trains traveled through the area following inspections at restricted speed, but due to the unstable condition of the hillside, no freight train passed through Sunday evening, Johnson said.

The construction and project team, including geological technicians, resumed grading and excavating efforts at 6:30 a.m. Monday in an effort to stabilize the hillside slope.

“At this point, there is still no definitive timeline as to when train movement can safely resume through the area,” he noted.

Metrolink service on Monday resumed operating only as far south as the Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo Station after providing service to and from San Juan Capistrano over the weekend.

The slope failure that occurred Wednesday, Jan. 24, marks the fifth service interruption in three years along this stretch due to landslides, according to the Orange County Transportation Authority, which owns the tracks through Orange County.

Customers are being updated on the service levels through social media, station electronic message boards and train conductors. For real-time service updates, visit metrolinktrains.com or follow MetrolinkOC or MetrolinkIEOC on Twitter (X).