The Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) in California has received approval from the Riverside City Council to transform the area around the Downtown Metrolink Station into a transit-oriented development (TOD).
The TOD Development Action Plan will pave the way for future construction, enabling greater investment into the region surrounding the historic rail station. The area has been in a state of suspension, with development policy not keeping pace with modern transportation, commercialization or housing goals.
For years, the RCTC’s focus had been drilled into improving the station itself, discovering new ways to improve service and infrastructure to create new opportunities. However, efforts to improve the rail transportation hub were cancelled due to concerns about how the project would impact nearby historic sites. The Action Plan represents an altered course, shifting municipal focus from the station alone to building a TOD community.
The plan’s vision will catalyze economic development centered around the station, creating affordable housing, mixed-use, employment and public amenity opportunities while preserving its industrial and cultural identity. This will include optimizing and redeveloping nearby vacant land, revitalizing industrial districts and connecting to planned mobility infrastructure improvements throughout the downtown area.
The ideal layout for the area’s long-term development will turn the station area into a Village Mixed-Use community. These typically consist of walkable, transit accessible mixed-use traditional neighborhoods. Buildings range between two and six floors, giving the ground floor to retail and office spaces, with the rest being reserved for residences.
To make the vision work, the RCTC proposed a series of targeted development plans alongside various mobility corridor, secondary street and pedestrian/cyclist connection improvement projects. In addition, as part of the plan, the commission will follow through on its plan to improve the Riverside-Downtown Station. These enhancements will include:
- Adding passenger loading platforms.
- Building two station tracks.
- Expanding the eastside layover facility.
- Creating a PVL track co0nnection between the station and 4th Main.
Corridor improvements will center around enhancing overall mobility within the project limits. These will enhance pedestrian and bicyclist safety, provide and strengthen additional connections, invest in alternative transportation options and establish primary mobility corridors.
Additional project components will include mobility hubs, wider sidewalks, pick-up/drop-off lanes, narrower travel lanes, cool pavement, protected bike paths, expanded canopies, improved intersections, on-street parking, realigned lanes and more dedicated pedestrian spaces.
Photo by Florian, Flickr user fboyd, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, from Wikimedia Commons
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