New Orleans has inched closer to realizing rapid public transit, as officials have signed off on the design of a swift bus system that would connect New Orleans East to the Central Business District and Algiers.
The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority in November agreed to pay local engineering firm Aecom $5.7 million to construct preliminary designs for a 15-mile East-Westbank bus rapid transit system, which is designed to run at a faster clip than the RTA’s traditional buses.
Buses would run every 15 minutes or less, outpacing the RTA’s existing bus lines, which vary in frequency but typically run every 30 minutes…