[kittyhawk28]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

No it's not "largely slow and street running". The original Blue Line runs in the street in downtown Long Beach and for 1-2 miles approaching Downtown Los Angeles. Otherwise, it runs on its own ROW between the two cities, and has always had a northern terminus in a subway station. This line, of course, will soon run below ground through the rest of DT LA to the old Gold Line ROW, which is almost entirely exclusive ROW, except for a slow surface-running section in Pasadena.

The Expo Line only runs in mixed traffic between DT LA and USC, a distance of 1-2 miles, on trackwork shared in part with the above-mentioned Blue Line. There has been a lot of chatter regarding improvements to this section.

The Green Line is pretty much the only light rail in the United States that is completely grade-separated.

They honestly could make the Green Line a light metro (if it isn't already) for minimal cost, not only is it already grade separated its already high floor and uses some pretty high-speed LRVs relative to other cities.