In Today's news...
Quote:
Metro took a major step forward on the West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor (WSAB) project with today’s Board of Directors selection of Los Angeles Union Station as the terminus and approval of the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA): Slauson/A Line (Blue) to Pioneer Station (14.8 miles, 9 stations) with the Maintenance and Storage Facility located in the City of Bellflower. The LPA will be advanced as part of the analysis in the Final Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR), expected for Metro Board certification in winter 2022. The project’s groundbreaking is anticipated in 2023-25
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Metro chose Union Station as the terminus of the West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor over the Financial District. It will have its own tracks running elevated and parallel to the A (blue) Line until it goes underground just before the 10 FWY as it heads into downtown. That's 31 at grade crossings and 40 grade separated crossings from streets, freeways, to freight rail crossings. Out of the 12 stations, 6 are grade separated, 3 above/3 below and the remaining 6 at grade.
LA needs fast transit and grade separation is a way to go... why choose light rail if we need speed over long distances. Portland, San Diego, Dallas know how to do "Light Rail" right with multiple at grade loops and lines converging through the downtown areas, creating a vibrant streetlife..., but is this the workable solution for every new line in LA if we are putting them all underground or above our heads? This is already looking like it will be one of the most grade separated light rail lines ever. With all of these grade separations, is it worth even doing "light rail" for this line?
Inglewood is already gathering money for a people mover to their stadiums and venues. The technologies that the Sepulveda Pass Partners are looking at are designed from inception to be low(er) impact when elevated... like the Vancouver Skytrain, Osaka L7 or similar tech that already doubles as a people mover as evidenced in a smaller version at JFK airport. What I would love to see is some regional longer term planning with all these projects tied together with the Sepulveda pass using the same technology as the Inglewood People mover and unifying the lines through the harbor subdivision and West Santa Ana Branch into a Y junction to finish the connection to the financial district. Maybe charging a higher fee for express services to downtown from LAX and special event services to Forum/Sofi/Intuit/YouTube Theater to help pay for it. and yes, I am aware of the Rail to River plan for part of the harbor subdivision. Also of note, originally the gateway cities, Glendale, Santa Clarita were championing the Eco Rapid Transit Orangeline Plan which was supposed to be an elevated Maglev line along West Santa Ana Branch because they all wanted fast express services to DTLA... ie, they wanted completely grade separated, frequent, fast transit. Light Rail is a compromise from what they were advocating for years for. I like this plan better