L.A. Metro Area Transit: What's Next?

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Another reason why I hate that place!

[edluva]

another typically southern california development. lack of vision among planners and developers alike. what's new?

[202_Cyclist]

It's interesting to compare ARTIC to the planned Transbay Transit facility in SF and see which transportation authority is still stuck in the highway era.

[Quixote]

Only one month until Measure R goes into effect!

[sopas ej]

I'm actually excited about it! Our sales tax will go even higher, but that's OK; that just means I'll have to recalculate how I determine my tips at restaurants-- prior to the last sales tax increase, I used to just double the tax.

[makoy731]

Does anyone know the exact date of the Gold Line extension opening date?

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Makoy731, looks like June 26th or so from the reports on Curbed LA. I believe the original date was late 2009, so the train is on time and on budget!

Sopas, thats funny i used to do the same thing and i kept on doing it until i realized i was tipping a bit to much lately.

[seamus]

Hopefully some of that sweet new 'R' money will also be directed to MTA's new TAP card program. I recently gave it a try and was very disappointed--on only the third day of using a weekly pass it ceased functioning entirely! Sigh. On top of that there's no ability to put a flexible amount of $$ on it, for occasional use (like one-way rides or day-pass use), rendering it useless for all but the fulltime users. Some of these things I believe are to be improved in the future, but meanwhile I dread the thought of a tourist trying to pick one up and having similar experience--it would be better to have just WAITED until everything is worked out before unveiling--first impressions are important, people...

[dragonsky]

Biden says state's high-speed rail project is primed for recovery funding
California may get a significant share of the $8 billion set aside for rail projects, the vice president says. A planned high-speed corridor would link L.A. to San Francisco in under 3 hours.
By Maeve Reston
From the Los Angeles Times
5:38 PM PDT, June 3, 2009

Though California is in the throes of a budget crisis, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the state's high-speed rail project is well-positioned to compete for a significant share of the $8 billion that the Obama administration set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for rail lines.

This summer, California officials will be vying against other states to get funding for a planned high-speed rail corridor that would ferry passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in a 2-hour, 40-minute trip. Voters approved $9 billion in bonds for the project in November -- and promoters hope the federal government and the private sector will kick in enough money to help them complete the $34-billion first phase.

Construction between Anaheim and San Francisco would take at least a decade, according to planners. Ultimately, proponents envision an 800-mile network -- costing at least $45 billion -- that would reach Sacramento and San Diego.

"The reason why California is looked at so closely -- it's been a priority of your governor, it's been a priority of your Legislature, they've talked about it, a lot of planning has been done," Biden said in a conference call with reporters.

The vice president said the administration wants "to get shovel-ready projects out the door as quickly as we can. . . . So California is in the game," he said.

Mehdi Morshed, executive director of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said state officials have identified two sections of the project that could meet the Recovery Act criteria for high-speed rail: having contracts awarded by 2012 and work completed by 2017. The sections would be those between Los Angeles and Anaheim, at a cost of $3 billion, and between San Francisco and San Jose, at a cost of $4 billion to $5 billion, Morshed said.

[edluva]

Mehdi Morshed, executive director of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said state officials have identified two sections of the project that could meet the Recovery Act criteria for high-speed rail: having contracts awarded by 2012 and work completed by 2017. The sections would be those between Los Angeles and Anaheim, at a cost of $3 billion, and between San Francisco and San Jose, at a cost of $4 billion to $5 billion, Morshed said

does that mean cahsr would potentially fetch practically all of that 8 billion?

[seamus]

Originally Posted by edluva

does that mean cahsr would potentially fetch practically all of that 8 billion?

I don't think there's much chance of that, with so many other competing interests (especially around Obama's home region), and with the nationally-notorious pathetic state of fiscal affairs in California, from the outside in Washington there will be perhaps less urgency on this issue ("Don't they have bigger issues to be working on?"). Still, though, it's likely that that $8 bil is just a down-payment on national HSR issues, so I'm sure there will be more cashflow headed this way at some point...

[sopas ej]

From egpnews.com

Commerce Gives Okay to Washington Blvd Gold Line Route
By Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou, EGP Staff Writer

The City of Commerce joins Pico Rivera and Whittier in lobbying to continue the study of the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension Phase 2 route along Washington Boulevard.

This is one of four alignments being considered in the study and analysis of the next phase of the Gold Line Eastside Extension project, which will see its first phase in East Los Angeles completed this summer.
The Washington Boulevard alignment passes through the north end of the city at a suggested station located at Washington and Garfield, and is considered by Metro to have the highest ridership potential, as well as the most expensive of all the alignments to build.
Other project area cities like Monterey Park and Montebello have extensively lobbied for the 60 Freeway route alignment located north of Commerce and the Washington Boulevard route, while Commerce has not made a decision until now.

City staff recommended the council make its support of the alignment known to Metro so that the route would not be eliminated before the next stage of the study.

Support of the route is based on its potential benefit to the daytime workforce population in the mostly industrial city. City staff said a planned shopping and entertainment district on Telegraph Road could also benefit.
Some residents and council members were more tentative about the route, saying they still want to see the environment impact studies on the alignment before they would consider giving it their full support.
A letter signed by the mayor will be sent to Metro supporting continued study of the Washington Boulevard alignment.

http://egpnews.com/?p=10211

[JDRCRASH]

I think it should go down the 60.

[makoy731]

I was having lunch at Little Tokyo with a friend and decided to walk down the station and take some pictures

[regboi21]

Does anyone think the metro blue line should extended to the airport a single track line,long beach city college on clark st and uclb on bellflower blvd the line would branch off from pch station travel down that street(2 track line) to the circle center then (1 track line)down lakewood blvd to the airport the travel down clark or carson st to the city college then it would go down carson then right on bellflower with stations at los altos shopping center and the university then meet right back with pacific coast hwy so passengers could have easy access to the airport from Downtown Long Beach and the Pacific Coast hwy corridor could have future Transit Oriented Developments(Mixed use Buildings).

[JDRCRASH]

^ I like that idea. But why not have 2 connections, with one that could be another connection to DTLA?

You see, if i'm correct, there is another Right-of-Way that starts at Washington Blvd with the Metrolink Riverside line, goes south, adjacent with Downey Rd, passes the Green Line, and heads to Long Beach airport at Cover St. And from the looks of it (on Google Earth), it doesn't look like it's being used. A golden opportunity for another much-needed AGR.

That said, I think the Blue Line line should extend east on PCH to Lakewood, head up Lakewood towards the airport, continue towards Cover, and take the ROW to Downtown LA.

One thing that I never understood is why the Blue line "circle" went on 8th st. and 1st st. Instead, 7th st and Ocean Blvd made much more sense for obvious reasons. Otherwise, get rid of it entirely.

[202_Cyclist]

Long Beach (LGB) has a operational cap of 41 flights per day, which was approximately 3M passengers last year. Although there might be more passengers at other stations along your proposed route, it would be very expensive to extend the Blue Line for such a small number of potential riders. I can't see regional transportation planners at MTA and SCAG making this commitment unless Long Beach takes on a bigger share of the Southern California aviation demand. The problem with ground connections to airports in Southern California is that ownership and management of these airports is so fragmented. LA World Airports operates Ontario, LAX, and Van Nuys, Orange County operates Santa Ana/John Wayne, the City of Long Beach operates LBG, and Burbank is operated by another airport authority. This makes any attempt to shift passengers to facilities with excess capacity on a regional basis almost impossible. It also severely complicates planning and investment for ground transportation to these airports.

[seamus]

It's now sounding official on Curbed and a few blogs that the Eastside Gold Line extension won't be opening until August. Let's hope they stick to that...

[LongBeachUrbanist]

I would love to see a Blue Line branch to LGB (Long Beach Airport). I envisioned that just south of Del Amo, just because of the existing east-west tracks that go the airport.

As for the operational cap at LGB, this is a big problem, exacerbated by my NIMBY neighbors who fight tooth-and-nail against any potential increase in airport activity. (In fairness, my house is not directly under the path of the commercial jets, maybe I'd have a different POV if I had to deal with the 747s.)

Personally, I'd like to see the Blue Line section in downtown LB reconfigured. It could be put in a trench, poss. cut-and-cover, south of Anaheim. The loop would be removed: in my concept, it would travel under the Promenade, and end at an aerial terminal station south of Ocean at the Convention Center/Pike.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by seamus

It's now sounding official on Curbed and a few blogs that the Eastside Gold Line extension won't be opening until August. Let's hope they stick to that...

Oh that's a shame, at least it's still sooner than December, which was the original opening.

And I'm not surprised, either. For the last few weeks I've been driving down the route of the Gold Line Eastside extension just to see how it's been progressing, and it was encouraging to see the test runs of trains being driven down the line, but that 1st Street Bridge widening is still not complete. Maybe the plan is to wait until that is done? I dunno.