Good overview of why the route for phase 2 of the Expo line was chosen

Expo Board Picks Colorado


By Lookout Staff

April 6 – The extension of the Expo light rail line from Culver City will follow the old red car route into Santa Monica, reaching the end of the line Downtown on tracks running down Colorado Avenue, County transit officials decided last week.

Despite stiff opposition from homeowners in upscale Cheviot Hills, the Exposition Construction Authority Board on Thursday heeded the call of environmentalists and the Santa Monica City Council and voted to follow the route that ran from USC to Santa Monica until the early 1950s.

“That was our preference,” said City Council member Pam O’Connor, a member of the construction board. “It will result in a better urban environment.”

The “preferred alignment” – which would continue along Colorado Avenue after making a stop at Bergamot Station -- is the least expensive and most direct route, causing the fewest environmental impacts, officials decided.

The route would save the iconic Coral trees along Olympic Boulevard, the other route into Santa Monica originally proposed for the line. The Colorado route will be studied in the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) before final consideration by the board.

The draft EIR also will study where to locate a maintenance facility initially proposed for the Verizon site that lies just east of Stewart, between the railroad right of way and Exposition Boulevard, before the line diverges onto Colorado east of 17th Street.

Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, the city’s powerful tenants group, has “strenuously” opposed the site across the street from apartments in the Pico Neighborhood, calling it “an “environmental injustice.” (“SMRR Opposes Proposed Site for Expo Facility,” March 31, 2009)

At Thursday’s board meeting LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who sits on the construction board, made it clear that the maintenance yard should be located in Santa Monica.

The board’s preferred route eliminates the need to elevate as high as 50 feet the proposed terminal at the current Sears Automotive site on Fourth Street and Colorado. Aside from bridging a key intersection or two, the line would run at grade down Colorado Avenue.

“It’s better than having a station just hanging up there,” O’Connor said. “In earthquake country it’s a different kind of construction” than that exemplified by the famed El tracks in Chicago, O’Connor’s hometown.

The train, O’Connor noted, would abide by the existing traffic signals. “It won’t run at 55 miles per hour in Santa Monica,” she said.

The board’s decision came two months after Expo officials released a report showing that following the existing Expo right of way through West Los Angeles to Santa Monica -- rather than diverting the line to Venice Boulevard -- posed the fewest hurdles.

The study found that the Colorado alternative offered the greatest opportunity after the Olympic route “to reduce regional vehicle miles traveled, serve to expand the existing transit system and increase regional connectivity.”

Of the four options studied, the route chosen by the board requires the fewest property acquisitions, with a total of 62, and only would displace five residents.

The board also weighed the options of the two routes into Santa Monica. Traveling down Olympic Boulevard would require chopping down the iconic Coral trees within the median, while taking Colorado “would result in traffic disruption on Colorado Avenue during construction,” officials wrote.

The board’s decision came after holding three public hearings where 174 people testified. More than 3,000 communications also were received.

“Of the over 50 members of the public who commented at the April 2nd Board meeting, many spoke of the benefits of utilizing the existing ROW, preserving trees in Santa Monica and the urgency of moving forward in the face of worsening Westside traffic congestion,” board officials wrote in a statement issued Friday.

Phase 1 of the Expo line that runs from Downtown LA to Culver City is under construction, although it has spurred concerns about its impact on traffic intersections and its proximity to schools.

Acknowledging similar community concerns along Phase 2 of the Expo project, Yaroslavsky directed staff and the project team to continue to analyze several key issues.

They include traffic concerns at key intersections, grade crossing safety issues and proposed parking restrictions along Westwood and Overland Boulevards, as well as identifying the most feasible and appropriate site of a required maintenance facility.

The final EIR is expected to come to the board for evaluation and certification in the fall.