Overview
- Caltrans has submitted the research project and is waiting for funding approval.
- The concept calls for bus-only lanes down freeway centers with station hubs, and stations are flagged as the biggest cost with some offset possible by building over freeways.
- Planners point to State Route 99 as a likely first corridor, with Interstates 5 and 80 and U.S. 101 linking major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento.
- One scenario puts San Francisco to Los Angeles at about 3 hours 12 minutes at around 120 mph, with speeds under study ranging from 100 to 140 mph.
- Engineers note current freeways are built for about 85 mph, so the idea would need major upgrades plus automated driving, stronger braking and vehicle-to-everything communication, and Caltrans frames the buses as a complement to the state’s high-speed rail while studying models like Adelaide’s O-Bahn and the Dutch Superbus.