Bus Line Will Hurt Communities, Not Help, Critics Say

The sbX Rapid Transit bus line, which will run through San Bernardino’s hospitality district and near Loma Linda’s medical centers, could affect business and create more traffic around an already busy Loma Linda intersection, critics of the project said this week.

“I think we’re fixing some things and damaging others,” said William Arnold, member of Loma Linda’s Traffic Advisory Committee and principal of Loma Linda Academy’s Elementary School.

A route for 60-foot long articulated low-floor, five-door bus is planned. It will run from Palm Avenue and Kendall Drive, near Little League Western Region Headquarters in San Bernardino, past California State University, San Bernardino, winding its way down Hospitality Lane before entering into Loma Linda on Anderson Street.

The route will end on Benton Avenue next to the Loma Linda Veterans Affairs medical center, where developers will create an expanded and upgraded bus stop.

The problem lies in the use of Anderson Street, Arnold said during a Thursday night meeting of the Traffic Advisory Committee. The intersection of Redlands Boulevard and Anderson Street is already at capacity, he said.

“This is an F intersection,” Arnold said. An ‘F’ intersection is at capacity and sees congestion at various times during the day. “The (bus) stops would be a major snafu.”

That bus line, which has been in the planning stages for years, took a step forward this week as the board of the San Bernardino Associated Governments approved a resolution that determined:

• There was a need for the bus line.
• It was in the public’s interest to have this kind of public transportation.
• The plan does minimal harm to residents and businesses
• Efforts to purchase needed property are made in accordance with the government code to each of the property owners who will be selling off pieces of property.

The resolution is officially known as a resolution of necessity, said Ryan Graham, transit analyst with SANBAG. And it authorizes the organization to begin proceedings of eminent domain.

“For those property owners that we fail to reach a negotiated settlement, we can use the courts to compel the sale of the property to us,” Graham said. “Then if we still can’t reach a settlement outside of the court system, we can step in and provide the valuation for the property owner and issue basically a judgment against SANBAG. That’s basically a settlement through the court system to finish the transaction.”

But it’s rare when the eminent domain procedures follow through to the end. Settlements are usually made, Graham said

They are negotiating with owners of 151 parcels. Only four properties, all within Hospitality Lane in San Bernardino, will be acquired in their entirety, Graham said. The rest are mostly slivers of property.

In Loma Linda, most of the eight properties affected are owned either by Loma Linda University, the medical center or the federal government as part of Loma Linda Veterans Affairs.

“We’re either going to be acquiring the property either through donation as kind of an in-kind match to some of the funds that we’re spending or other forms of contractual agreement,” Graham said.

There are few problems with the acquisitions. Critics are mostly concerned with the affects of traffic. In San Bernardino, businesses are concerned about dedicated center lanes that are planned for the bus line.

“As part of that there is going to be the removal of the ability to make a center left turns,” Graham said. “Those turns would be handled either at U-turns at mid block or U-turns a signalized intersections.”

“The fear is because (the bus is) not there and they don’t know how people are going to react to it,” he said.  “And so there is some general concern about what the left turns will mean to their business.”

As for Loma Linda, at Arnold’s request, the Traffic Advisory Committee is sending the City Council a request that they reconsider the route, or at least look closely at a proposed park and ride planned for the southwest corner of Redlands and Anderson.

“We’re just saying that route seems unacceptable,” Graham said.