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

[LosAngelesBeauty]

F@Ck the BRU!

Down with the CD!

[Wright Concept]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...nes-california

MTA Board Deadlocks on Color Scheme for Westside Light Rail Line
By Jean Guccione
Times Staff Writer

August 25, 2006

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has built a busway (Orange) and is digging a new rail line (Gold) through the Eastside.

But when it comes to the color designation for the new downtown-to-Culver City light rail line, the MTA board is hopelessly deadlocked.

So for now, it won't have a color.

Transit agency staffers recommended that the railway be called the "Aqua Line."

But Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, an MTA board member, wants it marked on maps in a rose-like color.

Neither proposal won a majority of board votes at a meeting Thursday.

So for now, the project will be known only as the "Expo Line," named for its route along Exposition Boulevard. It will be the only line in the system without a color designation.

MTA board members have tried for months to ignore the impending color challenge.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, an aqua supporter, expressed amazement Thursday about how much time he has devoted to the issue.

Unless there is a resolution, new maps will probably use a broken black line to show where the proposed track will run.

But Yaroslavsky had another idea: the "Invisible Line."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MTA agrees to the name 'Expo Line'
Color on map still debated
BY RACHEL URANGA, Staff Writer
LA Daily News

After months of wrangling, the MTA board finally agreed Thursday to name the new light-rail route between USC and Culver City the Expo Line, but couldn't resolve whether it should be designated rose or aqua.
The Expo Line is now the only commuter route named for a region and not a color, like the MTA's Orange, Blue, Green and Red lines.

City Councilman Bernard Parks has been fighting for months to get his colleagues on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board to designate the route as the Expo Line, in recognition of the Exposition Park he represents. And he also insists that the route should be designated as rose color on MTA maps in recognition of the park's landmark rose gardens.

"The issue that comes to pass is that color has never been brought to the community for discussion," Parks said.

The color aqua - which is backed by MTA staffers, Friends 4 Expo Transit, the city of Santa Monica and a handful of Westside groups - would not reflect the Southside communities, Parks said.

Moreover, he said, the poorer communities it runs through could gain economic benefits by having a rail line that brands their area.

But the drawn-out debate over colors got some board members peeved.

"At some point this board has gotten to listen to the people and not politicians ... but the hundreds and hundreds of people that have advocated for this and want this. And I think it's a slap in their face and a slap in the staff's face," said MTA board member and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, calling the debate "unseemly."

"I have resented the minimal amount of time I have had to spend on this, roped in to spend on this. But it is serious in one sense, it telegraphs to the community what our worldview is about how we make decisions."

MTA officials say even after laying down 73 miles of rail and subway, they have never faced such a drawn-out debate over a color designation.

In fact, moments after the board spent nearly an hour debating colors, it quietly and unanimously voted in favor of naming the leg of the Red Line that runs from Union Station to Wilshire and Western the Purple Line. It also adopted silver as the color to designate the El Monte express busway and the bronze for the Harbor express busway.

Maya Emsden, deputy executive officer of creative services, said if she could, she would keep the line invisible. But for now, as the MTA prepares to break ground on the $640 million light-rail line, she will use black on maps to indicate the Expo Line.

rachel.uranga@dailynews.com

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Bernard Parks is an idiot.

[Wright Concept]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...ck=1&track=rss

THE STATE
Job Boom Makes Driving a Chore on the Westside
Economic growth draws new residents and 300,000 workers a day from outside the area, stretching commutes and fraying nerves.
By Martha Groves and Sharon Bernstein
Times Staff Writers

August 27, 2006

Customers calling in for their pizza deliveries from the Domino's in Westwood typically live within a mile or two of the parlor.

But these days, Domino's drivers say they often endure wicked traffic from the moment they leave the store, turning what once was a quick delivery into a 30-minute, and sometimes a 45-minute, ordeal.

"They usually want to carry two to three more orders because it takes so long," said Domino's manager Arnulfo Fernandez, adding that the eatery won't let them for fear of robberies.

"So they suffer with the tip money they're losing," he said.

Westside traffic has always been bad, but Fernandez, 18, is convinced that "it has gotten worse."

Though communities around Southern California struggle with traffic problems, transportation experts and government officials agree that there is nowhere quite like the Westside, where rapid development and a boom in entertainment-related jobs have brought congestion on streets and freeways to new levels.

"Most people in Westwood cope by running errands in the morning," said Laura Lake, a longtime community activist and slow-growth advocate. "In the afternoon, it will take twice as long."

Population on the Westside has jumped 23% since 1990 (compared with a 6% increase for Los Angeles as a whole).

But experts say the biggest culprit in rush-hour traffic snags is a boom in Westside commercial development that has lured and created jobs.

Job growth has transformed the area into the region's premiere commercial hub, second only to downtown Los Angeles in the number of jobs. Each day, workers pour into office buildings lining busy corridors such as Wilshire Boulevard, the burgeoning towers of Century City and the rows of Santa Monica office parks that have become a mecca for media companies such as Yahoo! and MTV.

One problem: Primarily because housing is so expensive, only about 30% of these workers actually live on the Westside, according to a Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority study. That leaves more than 300,000 people a day commuting to the area.

So many workers drive to Santa Monica from other parts of the region that the city's population nearly doubles during the day, to 150,000 from 87,000 at night. Beverly Hills' population more than triples, said David Mieger, director of Westside planning for the MTA.

After the early-1990s recession, communities sought out new industries and employers to boost their local economies.

"It's a case of be careful what you wish for," said Hasan Ikhrata, the transportation expert at the Southern California Assn. of Governments. "With jobs and population comes more traffic and more air-quality problems."

And further growth is coming. The MTA projects that the Westside's population will jump by an additional 15% and jobs by 23% in the next 15 years.

The Westside building boom is the biggest since the 1980s, with high-rise condos slated for Century City and Beverly Hills and clusters of development planned for Marina del Rey and Playa Vista.

The federal government has even talked of building a nearly 1-million-square-foot FBI headquarters at the Federal Building site on Wilshire and developing some of the open land on the nearby Westwood Veterans Affairs campus.

Already, the Westside's job growth has turned some long-standing commuting patterns on their heads.

Take the Santa Monica Freeway. For decades, the challenge during the morning rush period was getting to downtown Los Angeles from the Westside. Now, the far tougher commute goes in the opposite direction as workers struggle each morning to go west from points east, where housing is more plentiful and affordable.

According to the association of governments, an average of 227,026 vehicles drove past the Bundy exit of the Santa Monica Freeway each day in 2005, an increase of about 14,000 cars in just five years.

Samantha Culbert was one of those east-to-west commuters.

After she got married and moved to Mt. Washington from Santa Monica, the stress of commuting to her Westwood job quickly got to her.

Going from a 20-minute drive to a 90-minute schlep "took a real toll on me both mentally and physically," Culbert said. "The traffic was bumper to bumper on the 10. If I took side streets — going through Beverly Hills or so forth — it was just as bad as the freeway. Olympic was congested, Beverly Boulevard, 3rd Street, Santa Monica, Wilshire."

While spending three hours a day commuting, Culbert gained weight and became lethargic and "grouchy." To save time, she did her grocery shopping on her lunch hour, stashing perishables in a cooler that she kept in her car.

She finally quit her job and now is director of public affairs for Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Los Feliz, happily commuting 20 minutes each way once again.

The Santa Monica Freeway is far from the only problem.

Traffic on the San Diego Freeway has increased even more: to 268,126 vehicles per day at the Culver Boulevard exit in 2005, up from 246,273 per day in 2000.

Then there is Wilshire Boulevard, which the MTA has declared the busiest road in Los Angeles County. MTA research shows that during the evening rush, it can take as long as 19 minutes to drive just one mile of Wilshire near the San Diego Freeway.

MTA analysis has identified numerous Westside intersections where traffic is worsening. Among those at the top of the list: Venice Boulevard and Overland Avenue, Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, and Sunset Boulevard and Chautauqua Boulevard, where traffic has increased 38% since 1999.

"If there isn't gridlock due to heavy traffic, there's gridlock due to detours and construction projects," said architect Howard Lichtman of Culver City. "Wherever you want to go, it's taking longer than you expect."

Traffic delays prompted Lichtman, owner of Lichtman Design & Construction, to stop accepting all but big construction jobs in the San Fernando Valley. "At one time, you used to be able to drive to the Valley in 30 minutes," he said. "Now it can be twice that …. It means half a day to get out there and back."

David Botwinick, president of Kater Litho in Hollywood, allows his drivers extra time to get across town to deliver or pick up printing jobs for Westside entertainment-industry clients.

"If my client's screaming 'Where's my package?' I say he left 35 minutes ago and should be walking through the door," Botwinick said.

But when he calls the driver on the company's two-way communication system, he inevitably finds that the guy is stuck in traffic.

Fixes for the tie-ups are few and far between.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has vowed to improve traffic flow by more aggressively towing cars parked illegally during rush hour.

Santa Monica officials have added 1,000 affordable and market-rate housing units in the downtown area, hoping to get workers to move closer to their jobs or buses. Officials in the seaside community acknowledge a severe jobs-housing imbalance but say the problem pervades the region.

The Westside is the most densely populated area in Los Angeles without a light rail or subway line. That will change if the MTA moves forward with plans to build the Expo Line from downtown to Culver City.

"The Exposition on a dedicated right-of-way would provide a meaningful alternative to being choked in traffic on the 10," said Kate Vernez, an assistant to Santa Monica's city manager. "It's a combination of mass transit along key corridors and mixed-use development. That seems to be a winning scenario."

But most transit experts say the Expo Line alone is not enough, in part because it would run well south of the most densely populated areas.

The answer, they believe, lies in finally building a long-discussed subway under Wilshire from Koreatown to Santa Monica. Villaraigosa has said building the subway is one of his top priorities.

But the idea faces many challenges, including some community opposition, lingering concerns about methane gas and, most daunting, the hefty price tag. The cost of subway construction is estimated at $300 million to $350 million a mile. It's roughly 13 miles along Wilshire from the subway's current western terminus at Western Avenue to the beach.

For now, commuters are learning to live with the backups.

Renee Travlos skips breakfast some mornings to begin the half-hour commute from her Fairfax district home to her job as office manager for a law firm near Brentwood.

If she leaves later than 8:15, her drive time doubles and she's late for work.

Travlos' nearly seven-mile drive takes anywhere from half an hour to an hour or more, including 20 minutes to travel the mile between the Santa Monica Freeway and her Barrington Avenue office.

In her previous job, Travlos, 35, drove seven miles in the opposite direction — along Olympic Boulevard into downtown Los Angeles — in a mere 20 minutes.

"It was no problem," she said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times staff writer Jean Guccione contributed to this report.

*

(INFOBOX BELOW)

More employment, more traffic on the Westside

Traffic experts say the explosion in job growth on the Westside over the last two decades has worsened the region's traffic. Only 30% of Westside workers live there, meaning more than 300,000 people commute into the area daily.

1) Wilshire Boulevard near the San Diego Freeway

During rush hour, it can take up to 19 minutes to drive a mile along the street.

2) Santa Monica Freeway at Bundy Drive

An average of 227,026 vehicles a day drove past the junction in 2005, an increase of about 14,000 since 2000.

3) San Diego Freeway at Culver Boulevard

An average of 268,126 vehicles a day drove past in 2005, an increase of almost 22,000 since 2000.

4) Lincoln at Manchester

26,000 vehicles during daily rush hour in 1999; 30,345 in 2005.

5) San Diego Freeway at La Tijera Boulevard

An average of 288,000 vehicles a day drove past in 2005, an increase of about 10,000 since 2000.

*

Sources: Westside Cities Council of Governments, Southern California Assn. of Governments, Metropolitan Transportation Authority


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[solongfullerton]

ummmmm........subway to the sea!?!?!?!?!?!?

[yakumoto]

A major bonus of extending the red line to century city, isn't only the boost in riders on the red line, but that almost all the major employment centers will be connected with metrolink, so out of city commuters will finaly have a way of completely avoiding traffic.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

how can they pretty much avoid the best possible solution? Barely a paragraph on the Subway extension and the Expo, and not even a mention of a 405 line or something like that? There should have been a article on new rail possibilities in the west LA area and should have mentioned the Purple Line, Expo, and 405 line. now that could make a big difference, not spending 500 million on a god damn carpool lane.

[Wright Concept]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...nes-california

Floating the Idea of Southland Water Transportation
A ferry service in Marina del Rey has been popular this summer. But experts disagree on whether the concept holds water on a wider scale.
By Deborah Schoch
Times Staff Writer

August 28, 2006

One man boarding the WaterBus on this sunstruck afternoon in Marina del Rey is headed home after a beer at a waterfront restaurant. A weary couple clambers on with two bikes. The motor whirs loudly as the little craft moves into the channel, seagulls cawing overhead.

"Look! Seals!" someone calls out, and even seasoned commuters who ride this route several times a week pivot toward the three sleek harbor seals slumbering on a nearby dock.

It is a typical weekend aboard the WaterBus, the only county-run public water transit in Los Angeles County that encourages residents to leave their cars at home and travel by boat — whether to a restaurant, Mother's Beach or the new Ralphs supermarket over on Admiralty Way.

On its face, this $1-a-ride shuttle that circles within Marina del Rey is a bare-bones service for residents and tourists.

Yet some wonder if it could grow into something more. Ridership has climbed since the county halted a less successful shuttle and launched the WaterBus two months ago, and some residents say they are taking the service as a way to avoid bumper-to-bumper traffic exacerbated by the building boom sweeping the Westside.

"If they're doing any kind of construction, you're dead meat," said Mary Redmond, 61. "Lincoln — it's a parking lot. So is Admiralty Way." And if she were to drive to the new Ralphs plaza, "There won't be a parking spot in sight."

Over the years, dreams have come and gone of a coastal L.A. served by commuter ferries, much like those in Seattle, San Francisco and New York. Today, no agency is actively pursuing the idea, but some wonder if its time has come.

With gas more than $3 a gallon and coastal traffic in gridlock, could cities lining Santa Monica Bay be ripe for fleets of water shuttles?

Could the WaterBus add a loop to Santa Monica Pier and back? Could a larger version carry commuters from, say, San Pedro and Redondo Beach to the Westside?

Highly unlikely, some officials say. Costly and inefficient, say others.

"Not something in our purview," says Dave Sotero, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

But others don't dismiss the idea so quickly.

Water transit is a whimsical idea, "but there may be a practical angle to it," says Marina del Rey resident S. David Freeman, who oversees the Port of Los Angeles and drives the congested 405 and 110 freeways daily to his office in San Pedro.

"Nothing is ever total whimsy in this world," added Mark Pisano, executive director of the Southern California Assn. of Governments: "As we grow and develop, it's an option that's clearly going to have to be considered."

For now, the little WaterBus operates only on summer weekends with four boats holding from 20 to 58 passengers, and ends Sept. 4. It makes six stops on the three-mile run, including the restaurant-lined dock at Fisherman's Village. There, passengers line up at a quaint blue-shingled hut to buy a $1 ticket for one ride or a $5 all-day pass.

David Vaughn, 49, is exactly the kind of resident promoters hope to attract.

"I drive 10 hours a day. I drive at work, and then drive an hour to get to work," said Vaughn, a U.S. Postal Service equipment operator who has begun parking his car on weekends and traveling by boat to the supermarket or local restaurants.

The shuttle reminds Mary Ciecek, 26, of the water taxis she rode in Venice, Italy, during a European trip. She tried out the WaterBus with a Marina del Rey friend and generally approved, although she found the pace too leisurely, unlike Venice "where it was just like clockwork."

Ciecek, who commutes from Redondo Beach to the Mid-Wilshire area, said she would consider water travel if it would take less time than driving.

She paused, thinking hard:

"If there was a ferry that took me to Santa Monica, and then, if I could take a subway to where I work…. "

But no subway runs under Wilshire Boulevard, and no ferry connects Redondo Beach and Santa Monica, although, over the decades, big-thinking planners have fought for both.

"Ferry Service Touted as Method to Ease Freeway Commuter Congestion," reads a 1991 headline in The Times above a story about Santa Monica and several South Bay cities studying ferry travel as an alternative to the San Diego Freeway, which even then was jammed.

The idea foundered because of engineering challenges, recalled Santa Monica planner Paul Foley. A floating platform would be required at Santa Monica Pier so passengers could board and disembark, he said, and a deteriorating breakwater needed repairs.

An even grander plan surfaced later in the 1990s, proposed by William T. "Ted" Gurnee of La Jolla, a 20-year naval architect and marine engineer who moved on to running ferry operations in Southern California, Hawaii and the East Coast.

Gurnee conceived of a high-speed ferry between cities in San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties. His dream: five boats moving at up to 50 knots, carrying 2,000 passengers and relieving traffic on the overburdened Interstate 5. But although the U.S. Department of Transportation backed the idea, local governments never rallied to help with the required federal subsidies, he said. He closed his firm.

"The technology exists to do it now," he said, "but I suspect it will take $5-a-gallon gas to do it."

In Long Beach, the successful 75-passenger Aqualink carries tourists between Alamitos Bay, the Queen Mary and the Aquarium of the Pacific. The shuttle is run by Long Beach Transit, whose chief operating officer, Guy Heston, said he thinks water commuting has a future.

"If you just step back and look at it — here's all this water. The entire Southern California coast. It sure makes sense to think about how we could take advantage of it and get people out of their cars," he said.

A Long Beach-based shuttle could run to Orange County, San Pedro or even farther, he said, adding that the logical place to discuss such ideas would be at the MTA.

But no one at the MTA is thinking about ferries.

And although Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa frequently vows to make Los Angeles "the Venice of the 21st century," a spokesman hastily clarified that he is speaking of economic prosperity — not of water taxis pulling up to Venice Beach.

Still, the WaterBus is thriving.

The county Department of Beaches and Harbors unveiled the service June 30, replacing the less popular Marina Coastlink Water Shuttle. With a $260,000 budget, a new name and a fare cut, WaterBus ridership topped 10,000 in the first six weeks of service, more than in its predecessor's entire three-month run last year.

Just like bus riders everywhere, WaterBus patrons have plenty of suggestions: faster service, clearer signs, more seats, more direct routes and an easier way to buy tickets.

Alfredo Sosa Jr., 14, is too young to drive, but he would choose the WaterBus over a car for the same reasons that might attract car commuters: It is not the Blue Line or an MTA bus, but a bona fide boat.

"It's exciting," Sosa said. "And I like the cool air."

[Wright Concept]

Originally Posted by PracticalVisionary

MTA agrees to the name 'Expo Line'
Color on map still debated
BY RACHEL URANGA, Staff Writer
LA Daily News

After months of wrangling, the MTA board finally agreed Thursday to name the new light-rail route between USC and Culver City the Expo Line, but couldn't resolve whether it should be designated rose or aqua.
The Expo Line is now the only commuter route named for a region and not a color, like the MTA's Orange, Blue, Green and Red lines.

City Councilman Bernard Parks has been fighting for months to get his colleagues on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board to designate the route as the Expo Line, in recognition of the Exposition Park he represents. And he also insists that the route should be designated as rose color on MTA maps in recognition of the park's landmark rose gardens.

"The issue that comes to pass is that color has never been brought to the community for discussion," Parks said.

The color aqua - which is backed by MTA staffers, Friends 4 Expo Transit, the city of Santa Monica and a handful of Westside groups - would not reflect the Southside communities, Parks said.

Moreover, he said, the poorer communities it runs through could gain economic benefits by having a rail line that brands their area.

But the drawn-out debate over colors got some board members peeved.

"At some point this board has gotten to listen to the people and not politicians ... but the hundreds and hundreds of people that have advocated for this and want this. And I think it's a slap in their face and a slap in the staff's face," said MTA board member and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, calling the debate "unseemly."

"I have resented the minimal amount of time I have had to spend on this, roped in to spend on this. But it is serious in one sense, it telegraphs to the community what our worldview is about how we make decisions."

MTA officials say even after laying down 73 miles of rail and subway, they have never faced such a drawn-out debate over a color designation.

In fact, moments after the board spent nearly an hour debating colors, it quietly and unanimously voted in favor of naming the leg of the Red Line that runs from Union Station to Wilshire and Western the Purple Line. It also adopted silver as the color to designate the El Monte express busway and the bronze for the Harbor express busway.

Maya Emsden, deputy executive officer of creative services, said if she could, she would keep the line invisible. But for now, as the MTA prepares to break ground on the $640 million light-rail line, she will use black on maps to indicate the Expo Line.

rachel.uranga@dailynews.com

Obviously someone thinks the same thing. What a big waste of time it is.

============================================================

Community politics

Re "MTA agrees to the name 'Expo Line"' (Aug. 25):

Councilman Bernard Parks is worried about involving the community, yet has not asked the community newspapers like the Wave and Sentinel or the neighborhood councils in on the discussion and have them weigh in on it.

It is amazing that Parks is so stubborn about the color of this line and worries about "the poorer communities it runs through could gain economic benefits by having a rail line that brands their area." Wouldn't having a Trader Joe's, tree-lined streets and safer streets help the community and gain economic benefits? Methinks this is a diversion to ensure his re-election next year.

- Derick Harris

Los Angeles

[cookiejarvis]

Looks like the MTA is gearing up to start the "pre-proposal" process on Phase II of the Expo Line. Proposed revenue service for Culver City to Santa Monica-- 2015:

http://www.buildexpo.org/contract.htm

"Attachment D" has all the good infoporn.

[netwerk01]

/\ Thanks for the headsup on this!

There are some great photos of the Expo ROW near Cheviot Hills which really makes the case for this routing in the attachment. I didn't see estimated travel times between the two alignments mentioned, but, all of the standard advantages of a grade separated ROW are present, it seems.

Expo ROW I-10 Undercrossing:


Expo ROW near Northvale Road:




Compare this to trains stuck on Sepulveda or trying to turn left from Venice to Sepulveda using the alternate alignment...

[cookiejarvis]

It would be insanity for the MTA to pick the Venice/Sepulveda diversion over this stretch of the Expo Right-of-Way between Venice/National and Pico/Sepulveda. The MTA already owns it, and it's a mile shorter than the alternative route.

[Wright Concept]

And when it operates between 5-9 minutes faster. I think they are going to lean toward the route on the Right-of-way since it's wide, quick, short, cheap and Cheviot Hills aren't bitching too much anymore. They see that the route is in a trench next to the noisier 10 freeway.

[Damien]

Anyone want to bet me that less than a year after Expo Phase II is operational, Cheviot Hills homeowners association and like will be passing motions requesting a stop be added at Westwood Blvd?

[Wright Concept]

Well they haven't figured out the stops for the alignment yet so there is still potential to have a station serve Westwood Blvd.

[Damien]

PV,

Several specific questions I've never really asked about Expo Phase I:

1) Why is the USC/Coliseum station considered optional? Is it just about USC's moaning or is it about money? Isn't the station supposed to be at-grade?

2) Exactly what will be the routing and grade-levels from the Expo ROW to the Flower street alignment, and are the Jefferson and 23rd St stations set in stone or is that being worked out as well?

3) What are the specific problems with the Washington/National terminus as it it currently proposed?

Well they haven't figured out the stops for the alignment yet so there is still potential to have a station serve Westwood Blvd.

There appears to be plenty of room for a park-and-ride and the station would be less than a 1/4-mile walk from the Westside Pavilion. Does Cheviot Hills WANT the station now, is my concern.

[Wright Concept]

Originally Posted by Damien

1) Why is the USC/Coliseum station considered optional? Is it just about USC's moaning or is it about money? Isn't the station supposed to be at-grade?

In a sense both. USC wants that section to be underground with or without a station so that it doesn't block the view of Trousdale. But they are realizing that they would have to pay for that extended tunnel and potential station.

Originally Posted by Damien

2) Exactly what will be the routing and grade-levels from the Expo ROW to the Flower street alignment, and are the Jefferson and 23rd St stations set in stone or is that being worked out as well?

From the 12th Street Subway portal it will run at grade down the eastern portion of Flower Street with signal priority until south of Jefferson where it will run in a short tunnel under Figueroa/Expo. The 23rd and Jefferson stations are set because the MTA went with the Flower Street option.

Originally Posted by Damien

3) What are the specific problems with the Washington/National terminus as it it currently proposed?

This is an issue I have documented since 2002 that the MTA needed to address in respect to the entire Expo Corridor and why studying segments independent of the entire route or system is penny wise but pound foolish.
At the Venice/Washington/National station area will require a grade separated station because of the traffic issues. The original 2001 study assumed that at-grade would be ok but realized in 2004 that it wouldn't.

Also how they construct the elevated grade separation is dependant on which route the MTA takes for Phase 2 of Expo will it stay on the right-of-way or take the Venice- Sepulveda diversion. That decision affects the design, engineering and construction of that station. Because curving the track and elevated bridge costs a little more to build than a straight track.

Originally Posted by Damien

There appears to be plenty of room for a park-and-ride and the station would be less than a 1/4-mile walk from the Westside Pavilion. Does Cheviot Hills WANT the station now, is my concern.

Well it's not in Cheviot Hills anymore. Now we're reaching Westside Village/Rancho Park. Honestly I don't know, if they want it or not.

[Wright Concept]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-aqua01sep01,0,7050247.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
EDITORIALS

Please, Just Pick a Metro Color

Flip a coin or something -- just stop wasting public time with the stupid train-hue ado.

September 1, 2006

AT FIRST, THE WHOLE AQUA vs. cardinal vs. rose debate seemed kind of funny. Board members at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have been hopelessly deadlocked over the symbology of color, unable to decide on a visual designation for the new light-rail line that will run down Exposition Boulevard from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City beginning in 2010 at the earliest.

But now that the argument has eaten untold hours at half a dozen MTA committee and board meetings since March, we're no longer laughing.

Some want to call the train the Cardinal Line because it runs past USC, whose colors are cardinal and gold. Others favor the Aqua Line, to symbolize the ocean, though it won't yet go that far. (It's hoped that the tracks will eventually make it to the coast in Santa Monica somewhere, but the route hasn't been planned.) Still others favor the Rose Line because of Exposition Park's famous rose garden.

The great color debate reached its apex of absurdity last week when the MTA board, after about an hour of pointless discussion, deadlocked on a vote that was intended to resolve the matter.

With cardinal apparently out of the running, the battle is now down to rose and aqua. The latter color is favored by the MTA staff, which has been using it for years on maps. But City Councilman Bernard Parks frets that aqua doesn't "resonate," whatever that means. He has somehow persuaded half the MTA board to take his side, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who should know better.

In the meantime, the project will simply be known as the Expo Line, making it the only MTA line named after a street rather than a color. On maps, it will probably show up as a broken black line.

This debate is as pointless as it is silly. It's not as if the five existing transit-line colors symbolize anything. The new color needs to have two qualities: It needs to stand out on a map, and it needs to be different from the other colors.

Last we checked, the rainbow still had seven colors. Some innovative transit planners — including in L.A.! — have even gone beyond the basic seven and chosen a color outside the rainbow. Maybe at their next meeting the MTA board could hear a presentation from Sherwin-Williams.

Our position on the hue review: We couldn't care less. Flip a coin, play a game of rock-paper-scissors, pick a color out of a hat — and move on to more important business, such as expanding the subway down Wilshire Boulevard. Thousands of commuting Angelenos will be tickled pink.

[colemonkee]

^ Amen.

[netwerk01]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...nes-california
Which Way for the Next Light-Rail Line in L.A. County?
L.A. transit agency weighs competing plans for lines to the Westside and San Gabriel Valley.
By Jean Guccione
Times Staff Writer

September 3, 2006

As they prepare to set spending priorities for the next quarter-century, Los Angeles County transit officials are bracing for a head-on collision over where to build the next light-rail line.

Should the Westside's proposed Expo Line be extended all the way from downtown to Santa Monica? Or should Pasadena's Gold Line grow 13 miles east to Montclair?

Though construction is still years away, long-range planning decisions reached over the next several months will determine the pecking order for major county transit projects through 2030.

Even if both light-rail proposals are considered worthy, some transit officials doubt that the federal government would spring for two $1-billion transportation projects in the same county at the same time, escalating the competition for federal dollars.

"There is no question that traffic is getting worse everywhere," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who wants the Westside's Expo Line extension built next. "Now the question is, if you have a limited amount of money, where do you spend it?"

Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) says funds should be allocated to the San Gabriel Valley, where thousands of new, affordable homes are luring workers and increasing freeway congestion.

Dreier envisions someday extending the line even farther east, to Ontario Airport — a move that he argues also would benefit the Westside by shifting some travelers away from Los Angeles International Airport.

"We need to build Expo, but the Gold Line is my priority," Dreier said in an interview Thursday. "I think we have the potential to do both."

The dueling proposals are attracting more attention now as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority moves closer to deciding which of dozens of proposed transit improvements should be funded in coming years.

Projects must be part of the agency's long-range plan to qualify for federal funds. The plan is scheduled for adoption early next year.

This year's competition is particularly fierce as officials anticipate how they might spend up to $12 billion on one-time capital projects if voters approve the state transportation bond issue in November. Without voter approval, the agency would allocate an estimated $7 billion in existing funds to new projects.

Even with the state bond money, transit officials said, they still would have to seek matching federal funds to begin building light-rail extensions within the next few years. The MTA's capital funds cover streets and highways, as well as buses and rail.

"Money is going to be very tight," said Carol Inge, chief planning officer. "We have a longer list of projects than we have money overall."

Officials have yet to decide which projects they will request funding for in the long-range plan, Inge said.

Construction priorities are based on ridership projections and cost effectiveness, measured in costs per mile and costs per passenger, according to MTA board policy.

In 2001, the last time projects were ranked, the MTA board of directors gave the Expo Line a high priority.

Construction is scheduled to begin soon on the first part of the line — from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City.

The next proposed segment, from Culver City to Santa Monica, is in the long-range plan but has not yet been funded. It is expected to cost $750 million to build.

The Gold Line extension did not make it into the MTA's 2001 long-range plan. A preliminary draft of the agency's 2006 priorities shows other, more costly, projects — such as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed subway to the sea — ranking higher.

Because ridership on the Gold Line's 14-mile route between Union Station near downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena turned out to be lower than expected, a further extension of the line was placed somewhere in the middle of this year's preliminary long-range plan.

Ridership on the Pasadena line hit a high of 20,000 weekday boardings in July, according to the MTA. Weekend ridership, however, has dropped significantly over the last year.

Duarte City Councilman John Fasana, who sits on the MTA board, said ridership would increase if the Pasadena-based line were extended farther into the fast-growing San Gabriel Valley.

The region's three east-west freeways are packed with big trucks serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as thousands of commuters, many traveling from their homes in the Inland Empire.

Last year, the counties of Riverside and San Bernardino issued 51,000 residential building permits, and their region ranked seventh in the nation for new-home growth, according to California Department of Transportation statistics. More than 153,000 permits were issued in those two counties in the four previous years.

Still, Yaroslavsky said the Gold Line ridership numbers, estimated at 6.3 million boardings a year, do not support the proposed extension at this time. Statistics, he said, favor additional mass transit on the burgeoning Westside as a top countywide priority.

"If you look at this objectively and leave the politics out, it bears no comparison to anything else," he said of the Westside's need.

The Westside has no commuter rail line. Its two freeways, the Santa Monica and San Diego, are "parking lots," he said. And the area's major hubs — Santa Monica, Century City, Westwood and Culver City — are experiencing major residential and commercial growth.

Duarte's Fasana said he expects that the Gold Line extension would be included in the upcoming long-range plan — and that, if the state bond measure passes, "I think there is an ability to build both projects."

Gold Line proponents aren't taking any chances. They are trying to leap-frog ahead of the proposed Westside line by appealing directly to Congress for funds.

Habib Balian, chief executive officer of the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, is leading the charge. He acknowledges that the strategy is "totally unconventional."

The construction authority was created by the Legislature to oversee construction but not operation of the Gold Line to Pasadena. The MTA runs the line.

Balian doesn't view his renegade tactics as distracting support for the Expo Line in any way.

"I believe all meritorious projects will be funded," he said.

Balian pointed out that he is not asking the MTA to pay for construction of the extension. The agency simply would have to commit to run the extended Gold Line — at a cost of about $10 million a year — after it is built.

The MTA needs to promise to pay for operation of the rail line for federal construction funds to be secured, he said.

While waiting for decisions, both sides are proceeding as if their projects have made the cut.

Even before ground has been broken on the Expo Line to Culver City, its construction authority is seeking proposals for an environmental study of construction from Culver City to Santa Monica.

The Gold Line construction authority, meanwhile, is studying the effect of its proposed two-phase extension: 10.5 miles from Pasadena to Azusa, followed by 13.1 miles to Montclair.

People on both sides acknowledge that the county's need for public transportation is great everywhere.

Despite his support for the Gold Line project, Dreier said freeway congestion on the Westside and elsewhere affects all Los Angeles County residents, no matter where they live.

"My constituents want to have the ability to go to the beach, the mountains, the desert or wherever," he said.

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jean.guccione@latimes.com