STAR has provided maps with employment centers, hospitals and higher education, population density, median household income, and SACOG Environmental Justice for each of the light rail extensions that are being considered, or should be considered. But there are a number of routes in the county that could be considered for light rail that are not extensions. So here we present opportunities for light rail infill, serving existing urbanized areas rather than outlying area.

The identification of these as potential light rail is in alignment with the previous posts, but we want to make clear that light rail is only one of the solutions for these corridors. They could be BRT (bus rapid transit), or HFBS (high frequency bus service) which is a concept similar to BRT used by SacRT (BRT light is a common term), or just enhanced bus service. SacRT has a High Capacity Bus Service Study, May 2021, that provides a great deal of background on such service.

Christof Spieler, in Trains Buses People, in the Drawing a Line section, lists steps to identifying routes:

• Step 0: Agree on Goals
• Step 1: Identify density (see below)
• Step 2: Identify centers (see below)
• Step 3: Identify bottlenecks
• Stop 4: Identify corridors (see below)
• Step 5: Decide what level of service, capacity and travel time is appropriate
• Step 6: Pick a mode

As you can see, deciding between rail and bus, and types of bus service, is the last step, not the first.

Light rail works most effectively when it has moderately frequent stations serving areas with a high intensity of housing, employment, and services. The existing system does not match this criteria except in the central city. Light rail that travels through agricultural land (which should not be developed as greenfield development induces traffic and sprawl), industrial areas, and low density residential, is not effective transit.

The maps below shows some of these. (pdf)

The routes are (east-west, then north-south):

• Elkhorn Blvd & Greenback Ln, from Watt Ave on the west to Historic Folsom light rail station (Gold Line) on the east; the eastern end is primarily low density, but offers a tie-in to light rail
• Madison Ave, from Watt Ave on the west to Sunrise Blvd on the east
• El Camino Blvd & West El Camino Ave, from Truxel Blvd on the west to Sunrise Blvd on the east
• Fruitridge Blvd, from Freeport Blvd on the west to Power Inn Rd on the east
• Florin Rd, from Freeport Blvd on the west to Elk Grove Blvd on the east
• Stockton Blvd, from Alhambra Blvd on the north to Cosumnes River College (Blue Line) on the south; unclear how it would connect over/under Hwy 99 to CRC, but offers a tie-in to light rail
• Howe Ave & Power Inn Rd, from Marconi-Arcade light rail station on the Cosumnes River College (Blue Line) on the south; unclear how it would connect over/under Hwy 99, but offers a tie-in to light rail
• Watt Ave, from Elverta Rd on the north to Watt light rail station (Gold Line) on the south
• Fair Oaks Blvd, from Madison Blvd on the north to CSU Sacramento on the south
• Sunrise Blvd, from Douglas Blvd on the north to Sunrise light rail station (Gold Line) on the south
• Auburn Blvd, from American River College on the south (assuming light rail to ARC) to Louise/Orlando transit center on the north

It is unlikely that STAR will analyze these routes in any more detail, but if you are interested in more detail on a particular route, please comment.

The SacRT High Capacity Bus Service Study looked at sections of four of these routes: Florin, Sunrise, Watt, and El Camino. It also looked at Arden Way. The planning is much more detailed than anything STAR has undertaken, but the focus is on short routes, not routes that cross the urban area. The resulting plan is shown below. Stockton Blvd is being addressed in a separate study. STAR may have more detailed comments on these plans.

• SacRT light rail