MTA Transit Center Approved for CSUN

Cal State University trustees Wednesday unanimously endorsed the construction on the Cal State Northridge campus of an MTA Transit Center that would consolidate various bus lines running through the San Fernando Valley and northeastern Los Angeles County.

The $1.13-million center is one of six proposed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in an effort to revamp the Valley’s bus system, shifting from an outmoded grid pattern to a more contemporary “hub-and-spoke” pattern.

The CSUN center, paid for by MTA dollars, will be a hub from which some of the Valley’s 60-plus bus lines will radiate.

The center “would be a benefit to us because it would provide transportation opportunities for students and employees. . . . And it would improve the quality of life for the community--for our neighbors who will use the center,” said CSUN spokesman Bruce Erickson. Having readily accessible public transportation on campus can only help promote ride-sharing and alternate transportation, he added.

As proposed, the landscaped center will be on the site of Parking Lot C, on Zelzah Avenue north of Prairie Street, said Steve Lohr, director of facilities planning for CSUN. It will include bus drop-off bays and a 1,500- to 3,000-square-foot building housing information and security. Much of the existing parking will be retained.

Design of the center should be started this year and finished next year, Lohr said, with MTA construction tentatively scheduled for 1998. An environmental report on the project, prepared by Lohr’s office, found that the project would have no significant environmental impact.

In addition to the CSUN facility, transit centers are under construction in Chatsworth, Sylmar and Burbank, MTA spokesman Ed Scannell said. The MTA is looking for permanent sites in Warner Center and Universal City.