Results tagged “subwaytothesea”

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tomorrow is expected to announce his plans in building support for something he calls the "30/10" push to accelerate Measure R transit projects--the voted in half cent sales tax increase--from being completed in 30 years to 10 years.

A warning, of sorts, came from a delegation of local members of congress today. Two mainstream media headlines begin to the tell the story. From this morning, the Pasadena Star News: 14 SoCal congressional leaders call for prioritizing Gold Line And this afternoon from the LA Times: Mayor's effort to fast-track Westside subway faces challenge

A series of public meetings about the Crenshaw Corridor (you know, a train from Wilshire Blvd. to LAX) have ended, but there still plenty of planning (and dreaming) to be had for public transit in the Los Angeles region. From bicycling to bus lanes to subways, here's a wrap-up of meetings that remain this month.

Is this normal for life after the passage of Measure R or is Metro trying to make transit nerds go crazy? Metro today announced the sixth, yes, the sixth public meeting about transit taking place this month. Projects seeking community input include the bicycle draft master plan (this one is actually under the jurisdiction of LADOT), bus lanes on Wilshire Blvd., the Crenshaw corridor to LAX, the Harbor corridor, the Rosa Parks station and now the Westside Subway Extension.

The Metro board yesterday directed staff to apply for federal grants in hopes of capturing start-up money for the a subway to UCLA and a the regional connector in downtown.

A straw poll posted within a Daily News story today is asking readers if they would use the "subway to the sea" of not. So far, with only around 200 votes as of this writing, it's a split vote. Earlier today, the poll indicated losing results for subway ridership. Posting to his Facebook page, former LA Times transportation reporter Steve Hymon notes that "if most of those readers are from the Valley (perhaps a dubious presumption), it's impressive that 48% would ride."

The current timetable has the first subway trains hitting the Westwood/UCLA area by 2036. Buy then, we might all be in flying cars, jet packs or just working from home instead of commuting. Frustrated with the timeline for a project that in theory could take five years if funded upfront, Villaraigosa called for the Westside Extension to be completed by the time he was 66, or 10 years from now, reports the LA Times. "I’m 56 now,” he said. “We are here today to make sure that it gets built before I am 66.” He wants local government agencies to put their aside and work together to get it expedited. He's been a staunch supporter of the Subway to the Sea concept, but that language has since been dropped. Still, he's fighting very hard to hit Westwood/UCLA in much speedier timeline than proposed.

Over the past few months, Metro has been drilling for soil samples throughout the Westside so below ground conditions could be analyzed as plans for the subway route and construction can be made. The Metro Board still has not voted on whether or not to move forward with a subway, but this information is part of the environmental research that must be done before such a decision can be made. Over 70 locations were drilled.

Metro has intimated that they'll be voting on a preliminary line for their proposed Wilshire extension later next year, and hopes to connect their "current terminus in Koreatown to the Westside," explains MetroRider LA. But where the stops will be are still very much in flux; "one of the stations along the line is still kept as optional: Wilshire Boulevard and Crenshaw Boulevard."

Metro is continuing to study the conditions below the ground surface as they prepare an environmental impact report for the possibility of placing a subway line or two in the Westside. Next week, exploratory drilliing with minimal sound, vibration and traffic effects, will take place at San Vicente/Gracie Allen, Wilshire/West of Irving and at UCLA Parking Lot 36 near Wilshire/Veteran. Next month, there will be five public meetings where the public can hear updates and ask questions.

As exploratory drilling for the possibility of a subway to the Westside continues to take place on city streets, Metro is gearing up for another set of community meetings for updates on the project (meeting info is below). Last Spring, public meetings gathered input on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report (DEIS/R) process that is currently underway. Next month, they will present a summary of what was heard at those meetings, provide updates to possible route alternatives and discuss the subway construction process if the project goes forward.

As part of the environmental review analysis, Metro is continuing their ongoing and weekly effort to study conditions below the surface for the possibility of a subway to the Westside. This week, the majority of the light drilling will take place in West Hollywood overnight. Spots include San Vicente/Melrose, Santa Monica/Ogden, Santa Monica/Fairfax and Santa Monica/Sweetzer. Crews will also be seen in Los Angeles along Wilshire Blvd during the day: Wilshire/La Jolla (Tues-Thur) and Wilshire/Crescent Heights (Wed-Fri). Traffic, noise and vibration impacts will be minimal.

It's getting closer to reality. That subway route for an expansion of mass transit to the Westside , commonly referred to as the Subway to the Sea, will undergo some serious study beginning Sunday. Metro contractors will be conducting exploratory drilling as a part of the planning and environmental analysis for the proposed Westside Subway Extension.

After a week of meetings regarding Metro's Regional Connector, which would in fill much needed light rail track for the Blue, Gold and Expo lines, the transit agency will host a series of meetings in a couple of weeks for the Westside Subway Extension, usually dubbed as the "Subway to the Sea."

General Manager Gail Goldberg for the Planning Department on building a subway to the Westside to bottleneck blogger Steve Hymon: "We can accommodate more people, we can't accommodate more cars. And so we have to give people other options. Other cities do this.... I think we are going to have to bite the bullet and do the subway. We are going to have to find other ways to get people through the Westside other than getting in cars.... The car that gave Angelenos freedom in the '60s has turned into a cell in this era. We have to put a movie in the backseat of the car to keep the kids busy while we take them to school. This is no way to live."

Although it was predicted to win the day after the election, Measure R, the half-cent tax increase that is expected to raise $30 to $40 billion over the next 30 years for transit projects, finally passed today with 100% of the votes tallied.

In a scathing editorial, the Long Beach Press-Telegram is telling people to vote no on Measure R, the LA County ballot initiative that will raise the sales tax one half-cent in order to raise $40 billion over 30 years for transportation projects. Complaining that Southeastern LA County will not get much, if any, of the funding (did they even speak up like the San Gabriel Valley did?) and focusing their attention on West LA commuters and the proposed Subway to the Sea, the paper seems to ignore that their region's constituency ties for second in usage of said subway. And this is only the beginning in the fight over Measure R.

       

For about a year Metro has been meeting with the public over the Westside Extension Project (they have a Facebook group too), usually dubbed as the "Subway to the Sea." In the Fall of 2007 Metro met with the public to talk about initial conceptual designs. Metro planners came back to the public in the Winter with 17 options (or alternatives as they call them) which included light rail, aerial rail, bus rapid transit and subway among them. Then in the late Spring, they focused the routes down into a set of seven options including two options that legally must stay through the process to the end: no build and transit system maintenance (improvements at the street level).

Here's one of the maps that will be seen at the upcoming Westside Extension meetings that Metro will be holding in September. Metro won't say what routes/alternatives have made the cut, but we do know this: the above map shows all four remaining subway possibilities from last May and all four might remain as possibilities.

The time is nearing for Metro to announce what they recommend should be the mode of transit for the Westside Extension. Will it be a subway down Wilshire Blvd.? Down Santa Monica Blvd. to Wilshire? Both? Just buses?

The half-cent sales tax increase that is projected to bring in $30 to $40 billion over the next 30 years and has been a focus for Metro in getting the proposal on November's ballot has been an long and stressful journey. Today did not help.

Next week, the Metro board will vote on two very important issues. One will put a half-cent sales tax increase, that would raise funds for public transit, on November's ballot. The other is the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), a document guiding public transit in Los Angeles County for years to come.

As an assembly bill that would enable Metro to put a half-cent sales tax increase on November's ballot makes its way towards the state Senate this month, a report released from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) said that such an increase would only cost people $25 extra per year (if the sales tax rate goes up, it will go from 8.25% to 8.75%, "translating to an extra 50 cents in taxes for every $100 you spend on goods and service," says Road Sage Steve Hymon).

• A Fresno sheriff will allow researchers to start digging for human remains under the former estate of Charles Manson, where Mr. Helter Skelter hid after a 1969 summer killing spree.
• A woman's partially decapitated body was found in a South L.A. alley. She may have been homeless and police said she suffered multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma. No arrests have been made.
• And speaking of no arrests for murder, O.J. Simpson admitted to a former friend that he confessed to killing his ex-wife weeks after he was acquitted, the AP reported. I'm glad we got to the bottom of this mystery.
• Zuma Dogg is at it again. The gadfly pressed Mayor Tony to talk to a city council member on an alleged Brown Act violation during a recent Del Rey Neighborhood Council meeting. Bam!
• Wireless internet capability was precipitously expanded in Downtown L.A. yesterday, as a communications company built new radio towers expanding WiFi by 16 blocks. A market and Wireless Fi? Shit, if I was rich I would totally move into a Downtown loft.
• Who's ready for the Subway to the Sea? Freshman Congresswoman Laura Richardson does, she told City Beat. Ah, to be young and idealistic.
• But maintaining and boosting Southern California's transportation system over the next three decades could cost some $531 billion and require new taxes, tolls and user fees, the Southern California Association of Governments said Friday.

The Westside Extension effort, commonly dubbed as the "Subway to the Sea," went social networking/Web 2.0 style a few weeks ago with a group on Facebook. This is the first time a specific project has done outreach like this and word on the transit street is that more project managers may be doing more of this in the future.

There are two more meetings left (one tonight, one on Monday) for the third round of public meetings with Metro regarding the Westside Extension, often noted as the "subway to the sea." At the last set of meetings, 17 alternatives were proposed which have been honed down to five alternatives being presented this week. What survived was underground heavy rail and one robust rapid bus system. What didn't was at grade trains and aerial transit.

Here's an interesting tidbit from Sherman Oaks. At the Valley's busiest intersection, Sepulveda and Ventura, you need to cross 17 lanes of traffic to get from one corner to its catty corner. Oy vey! Would this be one of those intersections slated for a diagonal crosswalk the Mayor spoke about last week?

Speaking of that 14-car pile-up this morning on the 101 freeway, how about this fact via the Daily Breeze? There's a near $11-billion price "cost to society" due to car crashes according to a study called "Crashes: What's the Cost to Society?"

An Urban & Environmental Planner friend of mine in New York City believes that when you build bigger and beefier streets, all you do is build increased traffic congestion. "Build it and they will come," he would say. Today, Steve Hymon in his weekly Road Sage column explores the subject by extension of the Pico/Olympic plan, where city officials are planning to begin adjusting the two busy arteries to act like one-way streets starting March 8.