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'L.A. Subway Planners Take Sharp Turn'

 
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Mr. Linsky
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 11:05 pm    Post subject: 'L.A. Subway Planners Take Sharp Turn' Reply with quote

An interesting article in today's Los Angeles Times entitled 'Subway planners take sharp turn' caught my eye, and deals with a new proposal to extend the 'Red Line' subway from Hollywood to Santa Monica beach.

A sub headline, that places the new route along Santa Monica Boulevard instead of the originally proposed Wilshire Boulevard, says that the idea sparks debate and puzzles some experts.

The original plan merely continued the existing Red Line from its Wilshire Boulevard station in Koreatown all the way west to the beach.

The new plan would continue the same line from its Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue station south west through both West Hollywood and Beverly Hills and then to Wilshire Boulevard for the final leg of the trip.

The experts are puzzled because bus ridership along Wilshire Boulevard runs at over 63,000 passengers per day which makes the route (#720) the busiest of all in the LACMTA system.

On the other hand, the Santa Monica route (#4) carries just about half that number of customers.

There is no question in my mind that, as it has been since the inception of the extension project, Beverly Hills has come up with yet another way to prevent the the MTA from imposing upon their upscale community!

Conversely, officials of West Hollywood welcome the new idea as it will attract their younger apartment dwellers that tire of the slow bus rides and auto traffic to downtown everyday - they practically guarantee capacity crowds on the subway spur.

The Santa Monica Boulevard proposal is good not only for the already stated reasons but because that part of the boulevard that would be most affected by the construction is already wide enough to handle the day to day inconveniences that will be encountered.

This subway extension, regardless of which route is eventually decided upon, will be successfully only if ample bus feeder routes are designed to bring passengers to the stations - just as the buses of Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan do.

Unfortunatley, the price of the project has now reached over 6 Billion dollars and nobody knows quite where that money is going to come from yet! - it could be years before the first shovel hits the pavement!

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Jamaica, NY
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Cyberider




Joined: 27 Apr 2007
Posts: 501
Location: Tempe, AZ

PostPosted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sounds like an out-of-the-way routing if you board on Wilshire near downtown and then have to head north to Santa Monica. I would think they would continue down Wilshire at least through Beverly Hills to where Santa Monica crosses Wilshire and maybe then continue out Santa Monica. I recall Wilshire as being a very heavily traveled route back when I lived there in the early 70's with buses every few minutes.
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Mr. Linsky
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dave,

As it stands now, the 'Red Line' runs from dowtown Union Station and makes its way to Wilshire Boulevard and continues to travel generally west until it reaches Vermont Avenue where it makes a sharp turn north to Hollywood Boulevard.

At Hollywood Boulevard it again makes a sharp turn to the west and continues to Highland Avenue where it then turns somewhat north to reach Universal Studios in the valley.

The original proposal was to merely continue a spur along Wilshire all the way to the Beach.

Now, instead of that, they propose a switch at Hollywood and Highland to bring a spur down through both West Hollywood and Beverly Hills arriving at Santa Monica Boulevard at La Cienega Boulevard to travel west on Santa Monica to meet Wilshire Boulevard at Century City for the balance of the trip.

I hope you can picture this in your mind so far - because I'm having trouble myself! - and I live here!

As far as Beverly Hills is concerned the newly proposed route would travel through the part of Santa Monica that they treat as a 'back street' so they shouldn't really complain!

There is merit to the large number of riders that might be generated in the West Hollywood area and I think it should be considered.

From a standpoint of economy though, the direct Wilshire spur would still be the cheapest way to go.

I think it may be a toss up in the final analysis.

See map below.

Mr. 'L'

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The Port of Authority




Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 118
Location: Hong Kong

PostPosted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How about this: build the line along the Wilshire alignment, but don't build any stations in Beverly Hills. That'll teach them Wink
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Mr. Linsky
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Port of Authority wrote:
How about this: build the line along the Wilshire alignment, but don't build any stations in Beverly Hills. That'll teach them Wink


P of A,

Hmmm.....; I think that's exactly what they want!

Actually, I don't think they have a thing to worry about - this isn't going to happen in our life time anyway!

Too bad because it would have been very interesting to watch them build.

I don't think the west side is sitting on much bed rock so the construction would undoubtedly have been the 'cut and cover' method - a real mess!

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Jamaica, NY
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Cyberider




Joined: 27 Apr 2007
Posts: 501
Location: Tempe, AZ

PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the explanation and the map, Mr. Linsky. Unless traffic patterns have changed greatly in the last 35 years, I can't see running it anywhere but Wilshire due to the high density of traffic there. That's where a subway would be useful. If they wanted to put in feeders from the other areas that would be fine, but after they get the Wilshire subway built. Let's see if they can do better than the SAS!
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