Results tagged “wilshiresubway”

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.

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.

At last week's meeting between Metro and the public about the Westside extension, Metro said that a subway (or subways) could be built and finished in five years.

In an ideal world, one of the routes in solid black, pictured above, could be a reality in nine and a half years -- that would be the year 2017. Generally speaking, a project the size of a major public transportation extension to the Westside, towards the sea, could take a decade to complete from pencil and paper to the first day of operation, assuming full project funding

Know how to raise billions of dollars for public transportation? Metro wants to chat with you today at noon in their third live internet chat.

  • A sales tax increase of a half penny would bring in $500 million a year towards transit projects. But we already have one of the highest sales tax percentages in California as it is.

  • Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which included a provision authored by Congressman Henry Waxman to lift the prohibition against federal involvement in the construction of the “Subway to the Sea” (less we not forget that it was Waxman himself that authored the original ban in the 1980s). We've reported on this before and it was likely to pass, but it's nice to know that day is here.

    Today's LA City Beat's LA Sniper column focuses aim on 30th District Congressman Henry Waxman who led the banning of subway construction under Wilshire Blvd. in the mid 1980s. Could you imagine what LA would be like today? A Los Angeles with a subway down the god friggin' most congested city street in America? Instead we have the one of the nation's busiest rapid bus lines, the 720, which the Sniper suggest should be...

    There's been some talk of making the Purple Line subway for Wilshire Blvd. actually veer off and go through West Hollywood or even making an additional line, say the Pink Line. As Wad explains on MetroRiderLA:The Purple Line is a 21-hour system committed to solving a 6-hour problem. The bulk of ridership would be coming from rush-hour work trips. But the offices generate very little activity during mid-days and virtually none on weekends... [snip]...

    As Beverly HIlls gets ready for their meeting tonight, Boi from Troy ponders about the city of West Hollywood being the only Westside city without any purple tunnel love:Rather than shoot straight down Wilshire–an easy proposal–why not consider taking to subway to places people want to go? How about building the Subway to the Grove, then to Cedars Sinai/Beverly Center/West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, UCLA, Brentwood then Santa Monica, linking in with the new Exposition...

    Via MetroRiderLA, the Southern California Transit Advocates (SO.CA.TA) is holding their second community outreach meeting on the proposed extension of the Purple Line in the Wilshire corridor. "This will provide a venue for interested corridor residents to learn about the status of the proposal and their role in its progress. Information will also be provided on how residents can engage in effective advocacy by contacting elected officials." Tuesday July 17, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. |...

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