Wilshire Subway Watch: How It Helps Palmdale

An Antelope Valley resident once told me that the slogan of Palmdale was "Why throw it in the trash when you can throw it in the front yard?" It was so rude. I loved it.

Palmdale and Lancaster always feels worlds away. Many of the thoroughfares have names like Avenue R-12 or Avenue P-8. Only a select few are lucky enough to live on Avenue Q (who doesn't like puppets singing about STDs and Internet porn?). Coupled with unimaginative street names, yet a navigable and utilitarian system of getting from point-A to point-B, is the hellish commute to Los Angeles on a working day starting with the 14 Freeway (it takes about 45-minutes with zero traffic out there just to hit the Valley). Then there is the Metrolink commuter train which is packed by the time it hits the Santa Clarita Valley.

So can the Purple Line subway for Wilshire Blvd. improve a commute from Palmdale to Los Angeles? I'm no traffic expert, but when you relieve the busiest corridor in this country it might affect the perpendicular 405, thus butterfly affecting the 5, thus the 14. But maybe someone can school me in the comments section or maybe someone can agree.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich does not like the idea of spending all this money on the subway, citing there are other places in the county to put public transit because only "three cities" would benefit from the Purple Line that takes people from Downtown LA to the beach in Santa Monica. For example, money could instead go to the county's 5th district which, shocking surprise, Antonovich represents. But hey, Palmdale is in the 5th district too and if his commuters can benefit, that makes four cities.

Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist