Traffic in LA is bad. The State of California is unable to provide money to help alleviate said traffic. What's a cash-strapped transit authority like the MTA to do?
Borrow the money, natch.
The MTA is looking to float up to $1.1 billion in bonds to finance transit improvements across LA county. The hope is that by accelerating plans already on the drawing board, the region can hold the line on congestion, and perhaps even make inroads into reducing traffic.
Which sounds great to us. We hate traffic. And we can think of some projects we'd like to see the MTA get a jump on:
Extend the Red Line down Wilshire Boulevard:
Boy, this seems like such a no-brainer. However, in LA there's always a roadblock to transit projects. In this case, it's Rep. Henry Waxman, who passed a law that makes subway construction in the Wilshire Corridor illegal. He says it's because of unsafe methane pockets. It couldn't have anything to do with opposition to the subway amongst his Westside constituency.
Extend the Green Line to LAX and up the 405:
Anything that can make it easier to get to airport and ease traffic on the dreaded 405 has our vote. Running the Green Line into the Valley, where it could tie into the Orange Line Busway, would also give commuters there a much needed alternative to braving the 101/405 interchange.
A Gold Line Extension into Glendale and Burbank:
Hey, the Valley pays the same transit sales tax as the rest of us, and what do they have to show for it? Two subway stops and a half-built busway. Sure, some of the blame for this sorry state of affairs rests on the shoulders of Valley NIMBYs, but a lack of forceful leadership on this issue hasn't helped. It's time for the grown-ups to step in and get something done.
That's three traffic-busting projects right of the top of our heads. What would you build if you ran the MTA and had $1.1 billion to play with? Light rail? A monorail? More freeways? A Jetsons-style skyway system?
What could really help reduce traffic in LA?
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If you think you're going to buy any of the prior three projects with a billion dollars, you're completely kidding yourself. Any of the options you spelled out for mass transit run into the tens of billions of dollars for any kind of widespread system. Basically the only things you can do with a billion are carpool lane expansions, get more buses, or -very- small light rail extensions. For comparison's sake, the entire non-discretionary budget of the City of Los Angeles is about 3.5 billion per year. A billion just doesn't buy what it used to.
Excuse me, I mean discretionary budget.
David, you are right that a subway extension would cost more than a billion dollars. However, the Blue, Green, and Gold light rail lines were all constructed for less than a billion per (not adjusted for inflation). The MTA is unlikely to purchase more buses, as they have fought their obligation to do so under the consent decree at every turn. HOV lanes are problematic as well, since commuters may resent giving up a lane to non-existent carpoolers. It seems to me that the best use of those fund would be light rail extensions, or to fund an engineering study that would decide once and for all whether it is safe to tunnel through the Miracle Mile area.
Well, I responded to this post over at my blog...
http://www.yuppiesofzion.com/archives/001054.php
...but it looks like LAist has turned off its Trackbacks feature, so how would anyone know? Why not turn it back on?
http://www.metrosilverline.com/
Cool site netwerk01...
Some ideas for the Red Line Extension(and other spurs) can be found here:
http://www.friends4theredline.com/future/expansion/concept.php3