Expo Line Neighbors Worried About Peeping Riders

You have to love the creativity of complainers. " a new issue is bubbling to the surface, says Streetsblog. Some people who live along Expo Phase I's route are calling for tall--likely ungainly--privacy screens to be built on top of the soundwalls that surround the train. "



Wednesday, December 7, 2011, by Neal Broverman






We still can't give you any opening date for the Expo Line, but there's lots going on concerning the light rail line that will eventually travel from Downtown to Santa Monica (and from Downtown to Culver City, probably very soon). First, Phase II bike amenities that once appeared uncertain are now coming together, reports Streetsblog. A group of Westside homeowners had sued over the bike path that's planned to run parallel to Expo Phase II, complaining that no environmental studies had been done on the path. Expo spokeswoman Gabriela Collins now tells Streetsblog that environmental clearances have been obtained for the bikeway in both LA and Santa Monica, clearing the way for the path's design stage.

There was also a kerfuffle over bike amenities at Phase I's under-construction Culver City station, which is set to open early next year. The station will initially feature 10 bike racks and eight bike lockers, but a "Clean Mobility Center" (likely a facility featuring more bike space and possibly valet and showers) is in the works. It was delayed because "its location conflicted with the construction staging area for the Venice Boulevard Bridge, which is being built as part of Phase 2," Collins said. "However, the necessary provisions were made at the station site for the addition of the CMC in the future." After some work is done on the light rail bridge over Venice and Robertson Boulevards, work on the CMC can begin.

All the bike news sure sounds positive, but a new issue is bubbling to the surface, says Streetsblog. Some people who live along Expo Phase I's route are calling for tall--likely ungainly--privacy screens to be built on top of the soundwalls that surround the train. Expo Construction Authority board member and new City Council prez Herb Wesson is a big advocate for the screens, saying at the last Expo board meeting, "I want to get it done."

There's no money for these privacy screens, and, some would argue, no point. That is unless of course you're a modest nudist who likes to sit on the edge of soundwalls.

Our first ride on the Expo Line

Link: http://thesource.metro.net/2011/11/22/our-first-ride-on-the-expo-line/

Written by Steve Hymon in Projects on November 22, 2011
11 Comments - Leave a comment! - Tags: Expo Line

Carter and I had a nice morning: we were recipients of our first ride on the Expo Line, traveling from the 23rd Street station in downtown Los Angeles to the La Cienega station and back. We’ll post some more pics later as well as video. (Update: Here’s the link to the videos)

As for the obvious question: we don’t yet have an official opening date for the Expo Line.

Why? There’s still parts of the project not yet finished, namely there’s work to be done on the switch on the junction of the Expo Line and Blue Line tracks, the ventilation system in the tunnel under Figueroa near USC and the Culver City station.

Bottom line: Metro officials are adamant about not rushing to open the line until it is completed.

As for the ride, it was smoother and quicker than we thought it would be. A few impressions:

•Even though the train was in test mode and stopping at places it normally would not, it took about 21 minutes to travel from La Cienega to the 23rd Street station. We were both surprised how quick the train was in the sections it could run 55 mph, west of Western Avenue.

•In the street running sections of the line where there are no crossing gates, the train must obey traffic signals but will have traffic signal priority and should get a lot of green lights.

•The train runs very slow — 10 mph — on both sides of the Farmdale Station adjacent to Dorsey High School as part of the deal negotiated between the Expo Line Construction Authority and the LAUSD. It’s a bigger issue going eastbound, because the La Brea and Farmdale stations are very, very close to one another. The train barely leaves La Brea and it’s slowing for Farmdale. Get used to it.

•The mountains views from the aerial stations at La Brea and, in particular, La Cienega, are outstanding. Patrons will be able to take in a wide swath of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Baldwin Hills and the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains. The only minor complaint: some ill-placed high-tension wires between the La Cienega station and the mountains in the distance will foil some photographers.

•The rain shields now installed at the stations look pretty good and should provide plenty of shelter during inclement weather.

We’re working on uploading the video and will post some later today.

Metro Still Won't Set Opening Date for Expo Line

Link: http://laist.com/2011/11/22/metro_still_wont_set_opening_date_f.php

Expo Line map (Metro)

Metro is still working on completing the Expo Line, but they still won't commit to any opening date for the light rail expansion. Why not?

The Source explains:

There’s still parts of the project not yet finished, namely there’s work to be done on the switch on the junction of the Expo Line and Blue Line tracks, the ventilation system in the tunnel under Figueroa near USC and the Culver City station.

Bottom line: Metro officials are adamant about not rushing to open the line until it is completed.

While these kinds of projects do take time (and, boy, do they!) if it feels like the Expo Line has been in the testing phase for a while now, you're right: They first turned the power on for the line in early April of this year. The Source bloggers got to take their first test ride today, riding from the 23rd Street station in downtown Los Angeles to the La Cienega station and back this morning. Some thoughts: The mountain views are great, the ride is smooth and quick, but riders should prepare for some very slow spots where speedy travel isn't possible.

As we await the Expo Line's first phase to be completed and the "all aboard!" call to go out, Metro has already officially marked the start of construction on Phase 2, which will connect Culver City to Santa Monica. That portion of the line is slated to open in 2015.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@laist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

Westside Cyclists Looking to Make the Expo Line Bike-Friendly

Link: http://marvista.patch.com/articles/westside-cyclists-looking-to-make-the-expo-line-bike-friendly

Bike lovers are looking for a Bike Advisory Committee as Expo design plans move ahead.

• By Brian R. Bland

Westside residents along the proposed Culver City-Santa Monica section of the Expo light rail line are putting in an order with designers: "We'd like some bikes with that train, please.''

Bike enthusiasts aren't asking for the actual vehicles, of course, but they want the line and its stations to be bike-friendly, with easy station access and secure facilities for bikes.

At Expo's latest public outreach event on Tuesday night in Santa Monica, Expo spokeswoman Gabriela Collins said some people aren't aware of plans for a bike path that will run parallel to much of the Expo line.

"It will run from the Vermont station west of USC to the Colorado/17th St. station in Santa Monica, where it will connect with an existing bike path,'' Collins said.

But Barbara Broide, who lives near Olympic and Westwood boulevards, wonders when the Bike Advisory Committee that Metro promised will be established.

"It's long overdue,'' said Broide, president of the Westwood South of Santa Monica Boulevard Homeowners Association. "The committee was supposed to be appointed in Phase 1 of the Expo project,'' she said.

Expo trains between downtown Los Angeles and Culver City are supposed to roll in early 2012.

Collins said the bike committee will be formed before construction begins on Expo's Phase 2, between Culver City and Santa Monica.

Many of the approximately 100 residents at Tuesday's event had specific concerns about noise and traffic during both construction and eventual operation of the Expo line. But seemingly everyone was in favor of the overall project.

"It's great—something Los Angeles has needed for decades,'' said West Los Angeles resident A.J. Calomay. As a kid, he said played along the abandoned tracks of the old Red Car trolley system that disappeared when the freeways were built. Calomay and his fiancée have a condo near the Expo line.

"I'm trying to make sure it's not going to be too disruptive to my neighborhood,'' he said.''

Michael Deane, who lives not far from Calomay, said he wants to make sure the nearby station is as soundproof as possible.

"I grew up in New York next to a subway station,'' he said. "Expo is a good thing. I'm just a little concerned about how they're handling the impact on those who live along and around the line.''

Santa Monica resident Margaret Mills has an autistic adult son who lives near the line's Colorado/4th St. terminus. She wants to be sure her son's service providers won't face reduced parking or traffic jams on Colorado.

"It's going to change Colorado considerably,'' Mills said. "There will be a lot of people, a lot of movement, perhaps noise.'' Still, she believes, "Everyone needs to get behind `people moving' versus autos.''

As the excitement grows around the Expo Line becoming a reality, Broide said some very big questions are still unanswered about traffic, safety and the decision to forego parking at stations such as Westwood, destined to be one of the line's busiest stations.

Broide said, "How do you get the students from the Expo station to UCLA and business folks to the Village? How do you get commuters from the station to Century City?''

The Expo Line from Staples Center to Culver City has been built. Trains are being tested along the route except for the final mile east of Culver City, where testing is several months behind schedule. Expo officials still say service will begin next year, with the Culver City to Santa Monica stretch getting the "all aboard'' in 2015.

2 articles on the Expo Line

Article 1

Link: CityWatch - An insider look at City Hall

EXPOsing the Westside to Mass Transit…Finally! Print E-mail
MovingLA
By Ken Alpern

WActive Imageell, the Westside, to say nothing of the greater City and County of Los Angeles, now has a political and moral imperative to truly address how mass transit will interact with the many far flung neighborhoods through which the Expo Line and other passenger rail lines will someday traverse. After last Thursday’s long and interesting session on the Exposition Line Construction Authority, where much public testimony was aired and considerable political maneuvering occurred, when push came to shove the Authority Board voted 6-0 (not 7-0, because Mark Ridley-Thomas did not vote) to approve the Expo Line

Yes, Virginia, the Expo Line will actually make it to West L.A., Santa Monica and the beach, and the long effort by the grassroots Friends4Expo Transit (www.friends4expo.org) to create a light rail that parallels (and effectively offers an alternative/addition to the capacity of) the I-10 freeway.

While some will cringe and recoil, and others will gloat and smirk, I think the right approach is for the Expo Authority, the Westside/Mid-City political cadre, and grassroots entities to be more civil than ever and to confront the logical…while fighting the emotional.

This light rail line is meant to benefit the neighborhoods through which it traverses, be it Rancho Park, Santa Monica, Palms, Culver City, Crenshaw, USC, etc. It is also going to create unavoidable impacts, and the impacts must be weighed against the benefits. At two locations—USC and Dorsey High School, there have been failed political and legal efforts to create a mega-expensive subway portion of the Expo Line as a way to mitigate for a light rail line that (by its very nature) is meant to normally run at ground level and to fit into neighborhoods in ways that subways and freeways never can.

So it is therefore not out of cruelty but a desire to save money, time and grief for Westsiders concerned about the Expo Line’s impacts when I remind these Westsiders about the unsuccessful underground-Expo-Line ventures at USC and Dorsey High School. It’s not just “you can’t fight City Hall” because you can—but the legality and practicality of asking for a $250 million or more tunnel under Overland and Westwood Blvds. has to be seen as risky.

But I do encourage those who raise concerns—as I have and will continue to do—to make their case wherever possible, preferably through compromise but, if the shoe fits, in court. It’s your right, it’s your taxpayer and private dollars at stake, and it’s a benefit of living in a free society…but please realize:

1) There is extraordinary local, state and federal support (even though the feds aren’t paying for it, they’ve got to approve it) for the Expo Line, and the I-10 freeway ain’t getting any less easy to drive in either direction.

2) An “evaluation of all possible alternatives” includes rail bridges as well as subways (a bridge costs $30-40 million, unlike subway portions that are hundreds of millions of dollars), so if you don’t want a visually intrusive rail bridge next to Overland Avenue Elementary School or in the middle of Rancho Park you might understand why the Expo Authority came to the conclusion that an at-grade option—despite its inherent problems—was the least of all evils

3) An at-grade crossing, with gates and all, effectively means an extra traffic signal on Overland and Westwood every five minutes or so (less frequently when it’s not peak hour operations), one that (as with all signals) takes about 30-60 seconds or so; I don’t deny hating to be stuck at a red light, but it’s not the end of the world

So…what’s next, as the line goes from the EIR phase to the Preliminary Engineering phase?

Well, there are certain items that the EIR left open for exploration and evaluation, and there are certain City efforts that are even more important than the Authority’s—it bears repeating, but most of the problems that Westsiders had and will have with the Expo Line lie in the failure of L.A. City Planning, and absolutely NOT with the Expo Authority.

1) Sepulveda should be grade-separated with a rail bridge, and paid for either by Metro or by the City of L.A., and NOT by the adjacent Casden developers who would more likely be granted a variance to create a megaproject entirely out of character with that neighborhood, if not region. BOTH the at-grade and rail bridge options have been approved by the LADOT, unlike Westwood and Overland which were approved at-grade, and BOTH can and should be evaluated during Preliminary Engineering

2) There should be more parking at the Sepulveda station, and virtually none at the Westwood station, with the Sepulveda station being a “regional” station accommodating Westside, South Bay and San Fernando Valley commuter access to the line (it’ll probably be the closest thing to a Metrolink station the Westside will ever have)

3) A Regional Transportation Center accommodating rail, bus, bicycle, car and all other transportation options, belongs at or adjacent to the Sepulveda station (pursuant to the above point)

4) Serious planning and transportation issues need to be revisited at Westwood, with lanes narrowed, bicycle lanes or sharrows established, sidewalks redone and as many trees preserved as possible to retain the residential character of that neighborhood. The Exposition/Westwood station should be a “neighborhood station” with only bus, bicycle and pedestrian access.

5) Better traffic planning for north-south access between National and Pico is in order, because the question of whether the Rancho Park portion of Westwood Blvd. needs to retain its residential character needs answering. Sepulveda and Overland are much, MUCH better alternatives to be utilized for 405/10 freeway access, and the widening/restriping of those two streets as part of Expo Line mitigation might offer an opportunity to address longstanding traffic problems

6) Create an adjacent Expo Bikeway and north-south bicycle connections to Sepulveda and Westwood—both the City of Los Angeles and the Expo Authority deserve to be taken to task for punting this issue to each other, and it’s downright embarrassing that the Expo Bikeway question still remains unanswered

7) Make the Expo Right of Way between Sepulveda and Overland a “Palms Park West” that is so green, tree-lined and attractive that the region will wonder why the heck anyone ever opposed the Expo Line to begin with

8) Nail down police/traffic/safety issues now, and not wait for “incidents” to occur—While it’s good to know that Metro, the Sheriff’s Department and the LAPD are enhancing their enforcement of illegal activities of motorists and pedestrians on the Blue and Gold Lines, the Westside (as with all regions) deserve to have this enforcement consistently applied. Equally important is the need to have sheriff’s deputies routinely assigned to Expo Line stations and to trains so that everyone can feel safe and secure on MetroRail

As the rhetoric ends and the reality begins for the Expo Line, it’s paramount for all of us to confront the challenges of Westside mass transit. Change is always scary, but I don’t doubt Westsiders will easily be more than up to the task.

Oh, and a quick P.S.: Meaning no disrespect to either Bernard Parks or Mark Ridley-Thomas, but speaking of ending the rhetoric and beginning the reality, I suspect that any end to an Overland Ave. Expo Line undercrossing also means an end to the complete subway portion of the Crenshaw Corridor Light Rail Line below Crenshaw Blvd. where it fails Metro Grade Crossing Guidelines to do that. On the other hand, the money saved can pay for a northern extension that MUST be a subway to the Wilshire Corridor, so it’s probably more of a gain than a loss (again, after the rhetoric ends).

(Ken Alpern is a Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) and is both co-chair of the MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee and past co-chair of the MVCC Planning Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and also chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at Alpern@MarVista.org.This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.) -cw

Article 2

Link: City Hall to pay for integrating Expo

City Hall to pay for integrating Expo
By NICK TABOREK


February 09, 2010

Editor's note: This story is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city's expenditures appearing on upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agendas. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past.

CITY HALL — It's expected to be five years before Expo light rail cars are traveling down Colorado Avenue as part of system linking Santa Monica to downtown Los Angeles.

But City Hall is already starting on plans to reorganize the street around the future rail line.

Tonight, the City Council will be asked to approve $368,000 for preliminary plans to integrate the light rail project into the existing infrastructure.

The funding would pay for a consultant, Cityworks Design, to create a design for Colorado Avenue that is in-line with City Hall's vision of an attractive and user-friendly streetscape.

Under the contract Cityworks Design would be charged with deciding where to put parking lots, how to best accommodate pedestrians and the disabled once the rail line is built, and how to relocate utilities equipment that is displaced by the rail.

City Hall received 22 bids for the contract and interviewed seven firms before deciding to recommend Cityworks for the job.

The proposed contract is part of a nearly $600,000 spending package the council is expected to approve tonight.

The council is also being asked to sign off on a plan to demolish the building located at 1324 5th St. that once served as the interim library but has been vacant since 2005.

The building is in "an extreme state of deterioration and has a toxic interior environment consisting of asbestos, lead, mercury and dangerous levels of molds and fungus," according to a city staff report.

The toxins must be abated before the building contents may be removed and the structure can be demolished, the report said.

City staff recommends awarding the $231,000 contract to knock down the structure and resurface the 7,500 square-foot area as a parking lot to AMPCO Contracting.

The council is also expected to approve a parking arrangement Tuesday night aimed at better accommodating the 25,000 runners who are expected to participate in the Los Angeles Marathon this year. The race, to be held March 21, has been re-routed to conclude at the Santa Monica Pier for the first time.

The proposed resolution on Tuesday's agenda would allow 5,000 cars to park overnight on March 20 in South Beach Lots 4 and 5. The estimated cost of keeping the lots open overnight is expected to be offset by charging $17 for the privilege to park there, a City Hall report said.

nickt@smdp.com

Officials approve plans for Expo Line route on Westside Some neighborhoods disagree with proposal and want parts of the route underground. (Source: LA times)

Link: Officials approve plans for Expo Line route on Westside - latimes.com

Officials approve plans for Expo Line route on Westside
Some neighborhoods disagree with proposal and want parts of the route underground.

Los Angeles transportation officials on Thursday took a major step in bringing commuter rail to the Westside, approving plans for a route linking downtown L.A. to Santa Monica.

Officials hope to begin work later this year on phase two of the Expo Line, a nearly seven-mile link from downtown Culver City to the corner of 4th Street and Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica's main business district. Phase one of Expo Line is already under construction from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City.

Extending the line to Santa Monica would be an important milestone in Los Angeles' ambitious rail-building campaign. It would also mark the farthest west a rail line has reached in several decades, serving a section of the county that is notorious for traffic problems.

"Every other part of Los Angeles has been served by mass public transportation," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents the Westside. "This part of town, this part of the county has waited a long time for this."

Transportation planners believe they will have the $1.5 billion in local and state money to build it.

And although there is broad support for the extension, some neighborhood residents have concerns about portions of the plan.

Some homeowners say the plan for the route approved Thursday is unsafe and will create traffic problems, particularly a stretch near homes in Cheviot Hills as well as areas near Sepulveda Boulevard and Overland Avenue.

Those residents insist that at least one portion of the line should be built underground, saying that would make the route safer for motorists and pedestrians. They also argue that the underground route would improve traffic flow.

Robert P. Silverstein, an attorney representing a coalition of Westside homeowners' associations called Neighbors for Smart Rail, said his clients support extending the rail line but feel strongly it can be made better.

"I want to be clear that my client is not opposed to the project, but is opposed to it being built without below grade, grade separation between Overland and Sepulveda," he said at Thursday's public hearing of the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority board. "Build it, but build it right."

The Expo Authority, which is building the line, said a subway along that stretch is unnecessary. Building a subway between Westwood Boulevard and Overland Avenue would add about $224 million to the project's cost.

Some speakers on Thursday agreed -- and urged the authority to approve the plans for the route as is.

Sarah Hays, co-chair of the group Light Rail for Cheviot, told the board that she was in favor of approving the plans for the route.

"I live . . . less than half a mile from the [rail] right of way, and I work within half a mile of the 4th Street Station in Santa Monica, so I would use this line," she said.

After the board approved the plans, she added: "It means we can move forward -- that we are one step closer to having an alternative to sitting in traffic."

The MTA has for decades wanted to build a subway along Wilshire Boulevard through Beverly Hills and into Santa Monica. But the high price -- several billion dollars -- has stalled the effort. And that leaves the Expo Line as the only viable plan right now for an east-west rail link from downtown to Santa Monica.

Opponents of the plans approved Thursday are threatening to file a lawsuit that could delay construction of the second phase, which officials hope to open in 2015.

The line is being mostly built on an abandoned Southern Pacific right of way and was originally touted by planners as a cost-effective and fast route for rail service to the Westside.

But the first 8.6-mile link from downtown Los Angeles to Venice and Robertson boulevards is already more than a year behind schedule and is more than $220 million over its original budget of $640 million.

Some delays are due to safety issues near schools. Activists have complained that the first phase's route poses a risk to students at Dorsey High School and Foshay Learning Center and have called for improvements, including running the line above or below street level.

That issue is still unresolved and the state Public Utilities Commission is deciding which safety improvements are needed near Dorsey High, and those improvements could be costly.

Furthermore, the Expo Authority and the contractor for the first phase of the project are at odds over some of the delays and are wrestling over who is to blame. That could further raise the project's phase one cost depending on how the dispute is resolved.

Rick Thorpe, chief executive of the Expo Authority, said that is why officials are using a different contracting process for the second phase.

Thorpe said that for the second phase, two contracts will be awarded for design, and then one of those same companies will also receive the contract for construction. That way the contractor is responsible for the plans and the follow-through, Thorpe said.

Officials said they hope to open the first part of phase one, from downtown Los Angeles to Crenshaw Boulevard, sometime this year and estimate that the second part of phase one will open about a year later.

Thorpe said the timeline of the first phase will not affect the second phase of the project because the sources of funding are different.

But fully funding the line is not a sealed deal because sales tax revenues are lower than expected, there is a state budget crisis and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has projected a historic $251.3-million operating deficit in the 2011 fiscal year.

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Roundup on Phase B of the Expo Line

Article 1

Link: The Argonaut: Top Stories

Expo Construction Authority to vote on Westside light rail EIR for Phase Two

BY GARY WALKER

Los Angeles transit officials are scheduled to take another step towards moving mass transportation forward on the Westside Thursday, February 4th, when the construction board of the Metro Rail Mid-City/Exposition Light Rail Transit Project votes on the light rail line’s Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR).

The Exposition Construction Authority, which is in charge of building the Westside light rail line, will consider station alignments for Phase Two of the mass transportation project, the location of a maintenance facility in Santa Monica and the addition of a third station along Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica.

The construction authority will also recommend pursuing the right-of-way route owned by Metro that will run along the Expo right-of-way and Colorado in Santa Monica, said Samantha Bricker, chief operating officer of the construction authority.

Phase Two would begin in Culver City, where an aerial station is planned, continue down Palms Boulevard and proceed along the Metro owned right-of-way near the Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10).

The first leg of the 15.3-mile transit corridor began in downtown Los Angeles and will end in Culver City. Originally, the Culver City station was scheduled to open this year, but due to cost overruns and the potential added expenditure of building an overpass at a planned station in South Los Angeles, its opening has been bumped to early next year.

Metro hopes to open the first phase of the line at Crenshaw Boulevard later this year.

The Santa Monica City Council unanimously supported the EIR in November.

The maintenance facility that will service the rail cars, which Metro is proposing to build on Olympic Boulevard in the Stewart Park neighborhood, has had its share of controversy. Residents who live blocks away from the proposed facility, which the EIR suggests building on the current Santa Monica College parking lot and the former Verizon telephone site, have complained about the location.

Eleanor Path, a Stewart Park homeowner, says that it is unfair to ask one of the most racially and economically varied areas in Santa Monica to take the brunt of a 24-hour-a-day/seven-days-a-week, industrial train maintenance yard.

“To the neighborhood, this is an unjustifiable discrimination,” said Path, who is a proponent of the light rail line.

Metro officials say they have added new technology that would eliminate “wheel squeal” from the train, and a car wash and a cleaning platform would be relocated north of the Verizon property. A 110-foot sound barrier would be built to reduce noise from the train and the light rail yard.

In addition, Metro authorities have canceled plans for a paint and body shop, and proposed adding directional lighting to reduce glare and installing landscaping to make the sound barrier less conspicuous.

“We’ve been working with community groups and with Santa Monica officials in what we think has been a very collaborative way,” Bricker said. “We’re hoping that the project will win approval so that we can begin to move forward with the project.”

Mass transit advocacy groups are backing the environmental document and the proposed alignments for the second stage of the light rail project.

“Our official position is we support the recommended preferred alternative without delay,” said Darrell Clarke, the president of Friends 4 Expo, a transit advocacy group. “There’s been an extensive planning and environmental process. It’s time to move forward.”

Clarke says the preferred alternative, which was recommended over a proposal that would travel down Venice Boulevard and then go west toward Santa Monica, is “a mile shorter, faster and will attract more riders.”

Santa Monica City Councilwoman Gleam Davis thinks the mid-city station at 17th Street and Colorado is a crucial addition to the light rail line.

“It is very important, because it is much closer to both Santa Monica-UCLA Hospital and Saint John’s hospital,” Davis told The Argonaut. “It is also closer to Santa Monica College, and we should be able to take a lot of traffic off of the major streets there through buses and shuttles and get people onto the train.”

Clarke agrees that having the third station was a wise move by the council.

“We pushed for that all along, in order to serve the whole mid-city part of Santa Monica,” he said.

The other stations will be at Bergamot Station and Fourth Street and Colorado.

Santa Monica city leaders asked the construction authority to include an additional station on the line to take advantage of the opportunity to create a pedestrian streetscape that would attract tourists, locals and residents from outside the city to shop. There are also plans for a transit-oriented mixed-use development at the 17th Street station.

“That would give people a real sense of being in Santa Monica,” said Davis, a mass transit proponent who replaced the late Herb Katz on the council last year.

Davis said there are also plans to have a transit-oriented plaza at Fourth Street and Colorado, where the line is slated to end.

Despite protests from some Stewart Park residents, Clarke feels that Metro has by and large been very cooperative with the city government on the station alignments and the maintenance yard.

“I think that they tried very hard to work with the city,” said Clarke, a former city planning commissioner who lives a few blocks south of the proposed maintenance facility.

Davis also believes that the transportation agency has worked well with her council and said she and her colleagues have analyzed the proposed site for the maintenance yard from every angle.

“When you have an installation of mass transit in a neighborhood, there are often some conflicts,” the councilwoman noted. “We don’t control where the maintenance yard goes. Our job is to mitigate any potential impacts to the neighborhood.”

The board will only consider the certification of the environmental document and its possible approval February 4th. There will be no further discussion on the site of the maintenance facility or other topics.

Bricker said the Metro Board of Directors could vote on the EIR at its March meeting, pending its approval by the construction authority.

The second stage of the Expo Line is slated to reach Santa Monica by 2014.

Article 2

Streetsblog Los Angeles » Expect Plenty of Debate Before Tomorrow’s Vote on the Expo Line FEIR

Expect Plenty of Debate Before Tomorrow’s Vote on the Expo Line FEIR

by Damien Newton on February 3, 2010



Tomorrow's meeting of the Expo Construction Authority Board of Directors promises to be one of the best-attended, most controversial and longest meeting of the body. The Board is scheduled to vote on approval of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Phase II of the Expo Line, and there are still many issues that are controversial with various constituencies. The meeting begins at 2:00 P.M. at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration at 500 West Temple Street. For those of you that plan on listening in at home, you can call in at (213) 974-4700 or (877) 873-8017. Spanish language call information and more details at the meeting can be found at the Expo Construction Authority's website.

If the FEIR is passed tomorrow, only a court order or loss of funding could stop construction of the controversial light rail line. While a close vote is expected, passage seems somewhat assured. There are seven voting members of the Expo Construction Authority, and only a majority is needed to approve the documents. Assuming that Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Santa Monica City Council Woman Pam O'Conner and Culver City Council Member Scott Malsin all vote in favor of the project, then only one vote is needed from Los Angeles City Council Members Herb Wesson, Bill Rosendahl, Paul Koretz or County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Yaroslavsky has already announced his support on his blog.

So what issues need to be addressed? It seems as though the controversy over where to put a rail yard in Santa Monica has cooled off, but that leaves several controversies to be addressed.

The main obstacle to passage is the local advocacy group Neighbors for Smart Rail, that is an umbrella group consisting of local organizations and homeowners groups from areas such as Cheviot Hills and Westwood Gardens. Some of these groups have been opposed to the line for, literally, decades, and others have joined the effort recently. Their main concerns with the project, as outlined in an email to members, can be found here:

The report calls for all train crossings through our community to go at street level (at-grade), blocking traffic as often as every 2 ½ minutes, 22 hours a day at Overland, Westwood, Military and Sepulveda! They have not studied any below grade options and will consider elevating at Sepulveda only if someone else pays for it!

The FEIR document is woefully deficient and the data is flawed - it should not be adopted! We need your support to show the Expo Board that we care about our homes, our schools and the quality of life in this neighborhood. It's time to stand up and be counted.

Unlike some of the other groups attending tomorrow's meeting, Neighbors for Smart Rail aren't encouraging changes to the document, but its outright rejection. It is widely assumed that Neighbors for Smart Rail will be pursuing a legal remedy if they don't succeed tomorrow, but they're keeping that decision close to their vest and haven't said anything about future plans other than what happens tomorrow will determine their next steps.

So what changes would Neighbors for Smart Rail like to see? Their stated position is that grade-separated crossings need to be more seriously studied and approved for crossings at all major intersections and near schools. They note the high accident rate for at-grade rail crossings, most recently exemplified by a Gold Line crash last week.

Countering the assertions of Neighbors for Smart Rail is the pro-Expo group Friends 4 Expo Transit who have relentlessly pushed for the quick construction of the Expo Line from Downtown L.A. all the way to Downtown Santa Monica. They have been encouraging members to write the Expo Board, and show up tomorrow, to provide a counter-weight to the opposition. In response to Neighbors for Smart Rail, Friends 4 Expo write:

We've waited years for this alternative to horrible Westside traffic, that will serve this dense corridor's many residents, jobs, recreational, educational, and cultural opportunities, plus provide landscaping and a bike path.

Its opponents, after failing to detour the line from its straight path to Santa Monica, now demand unprecedented special treatment for one neighborhood under the guise of "Build it right or don't build it." But their prohibitively expensive, long deep tunnel beneath the existing railroad right-of-way has never been built on any modern U.S. light rail line and would threaten Expo's completion.

Friends 4 Expo is supported by broader transit groups such as the Transit Coalition and the Southern California Transit Advocates.

Friends 4 Expo points out that the planned crossings are consistent with Metro's policy, but even that policy is under fire. Just last week, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas, one of those voting tomorrow, wrote to Metro CEO Art Leahy and asked for a review of the crossings policy.

Another group concerned about the line's impact on traffic is the UCLA Bicycle Coalition. While the group expresses support for the concept, and writes that it's "pretty exciting to get a new train line in our 'hood;" they have serious concerns that the configuration will make cycling on Westwood Boulevard, one of the most heavily cycled roads in L.A. County, dangerous and daunting.

Current plans will reconfigure lanes on Westwood Blvd in such a way that it will be a pretty nasty road to bike on. We're asking the board to redesign the street here to preserve space for bikes, and to even add bike lanes. (More details in the letter below).

I know a lot of us bike on Westwood regularly, so we should rise up and demand that this road stay safe for bicyclists.

The cyclists are also asking their members to write the Board or attend tomorrow's meeting.

A third issue to be addressed, is the configuration of the station at Overland Avenue and Westwood Boulevard. A group calling itself "Expo Greenway" is urging that instead of a parking lot the space around the station should be preserved as green space. "Park not parking" is the slogan, and a full detail of their plan can be read at their website.

Of course, there are other issues to be addressed, including the fate of the Expo Bike Path which will be approved if the FEIS is approved tomorrow but is not funded by the Construction Authority. However, heading into tomorrow's showdown at Kenneth Hahn Hall, these are the groups that appear to be doing the most mobilizing.

If tomorrow seems a little short on stories here at Streetsblog, it's because we're planning on "live tweeting" the hearing via telephone.

Article 3

Link: All aboard Expo to the Westside | Zev Yaroslavsky

All aboard Expo to the Westside

February 2, 2010

This Thursday marks a turning point in the decades-long effort to bring mass rapid transit to the Westside of Los Angeles. That’s when I, along with my colleagues on the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority Board, will cast a crucial vote on extending the Expo Line from Culver City to Santa Monica.

I intend to vote yes, and here’s why.

The Westside has waited for decades to become part of the growing regional mass transit system of Los Angeles County. While transit lines have been built in downtown, Pasadena, Long Beach, the San Fernando Valley and along the Century Freeway, the Westside’s public transit system is exclusively made up of street buses. The Expo Line will give commuters who work and live in the western part of L.A. County an alternative to sitting in their cars for up to 3 to 4 hours each day getting to and from work or school. For the first time since the legendary Red Car system was dismantled after World War II, the Westside will have mass rapid transit.

And Thursday’s vote is a key step to getting us there.

The Expo Board will consider the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for Phase 2 of the project, the section of the light rail that will run from Culver City to Santa Monica. We must approve the FEIR before we can award a design and construction contract for this long-awaited project. If approved, Phase 2 could begin some construction before the end of this year, with completion planned in 2015. The line’s ridership is estimated to be 64,000 a day by 2030.

The Expo Line in its entirety will connect downtown Los Angeles with Exposition Park/USC, Crenshaw, Culver City, Pico/Sepulveda, West Los Angeles and Santa Monica. The first phase, which runs between downtown and Culver City, is now under construction and working toward an opening next year.

The Expo Line has had its share of critics, with concerns raised about matters ranging from grade crossings, impact on neighborhoods and placement of the project’s maintenance yard to delays and noise during Phase 1 construction.

But I firmly believe that the FEIR has addressed these issues in great detail and that we can deliver a project that will reflect what our region wants and needs. Extensive analysis has been done to ensure that the Expo Line is built in a manner that is as respectful as possible of the communities through which it will run. New elevated grade separations have been recommended where appropriate. Those intersections include: Venice Boulevard, Bundy, Centinela, Pico-Gateway, Cloverfield/Olympic and Sawtelle. The remainder of the grade crossings will be at street level.

It’s significant to note that the overwhelming majority of the 9,000 comments received on the environmental impact report have been positive. State Senator Fran Pavley and Assembly members Mike Feuer and Julia Brownley also have voiced their support for the project. And the cities of Los Angeles, Culver City and Santa Monica have partnered with Expo to build it.

The $1.5 billion Expo Line is being funded largely through the Measure R half-cent sales tax that was approved by county voters in 2008. The project, coupled with the extension of the subway westward, also partially funded through Measure R, will bring much-needed mass rapid transit to the Westside.

All of us have waited a long time for this moment. Building the Expo Line and extending the subway to the Westside are among the reasons I helped write Measure R and fought so hard to get it passed. An effective rapid transit system will improve our quality of life. System users will save time and money while reducing wear and tear on body and soul.

Come and join us at the Hall of Administration at 2 p.m. Thursday, and let’s get this train moving.

Article 4

Link: Groups Prepare to Fight Over Train to Santa Monica Tomorrow - LAist

Groups Prepare to Fight Over Train to Santa Monica Tomorrow


The big day is tomorrow. The Expo Line's construction authority board is scheduled to vote on the second phase, which will bring the line from Culver City to Santa Monica (the first phase between downtown and Culver City is already under construction). The vote could go a variety of ways, including being voted down--meaning no train--to what's expected: the route as seen in the photo above.

In his preview of the meeting, Damien Newtwon at Streetsblog LA rounds up what two groups--one for, one against--are saying in their latest e-mail blasts. "The report calls for all train crossings through our community to go at street level (at-grade), blocking traffic as often as every 2 ½ minutes, 22 hours a day at Overland, Westwood, Military and Sepulveda!" says detractors of rail line, Neighbors for Smart Rail. "The FEIR document is woefully deficient and the data is flawed - it should not be adopted!"

Friends 4 Expo Transit are prepared for the opposition. "Its opponents, after failing to detour the line from its straight path to Santa Monica, now demand unprecedented special treatment for one neighborhood under the guise of 'Build it right or don't build it,'" they say.

No matter, it appears the light rail line will be approved. "I intend to vote yes," wrote Count Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky on his blog. "It’s significant to note that the overwhelming majority of the 9,000 comments received on the environmental impact report have been positive," he noted.
user-pic
By Zach Behrens in News on February 3, 2010 2:55 PM

Vote to Take Train from Culver City to Santa Monica Set for Thursday (Source: LAist)

List: Vote to Take Train from Culver City to Santa Monica Set for Thursday - LAist

Vote to Take Train from Culver City to Santa Monica Set for Thursday


Ladies and gentleman, we have a plan for the Expo Line / Read the post here

As the Expo Line's first phase between downtown Los Angeles and Culver City gets closer to completion (despite it being over-budget and delayed), the building authority's board is set to vote on the second phase, which would connect the line from Culver City to Santa Monica, this Thursday afternoon. If they side with project staff's recommendation, as expected, they will approve a route known as LRT Alternative 2, which would go from Culver City towards the beach via a right of way until connecting with Colorado Boulevard in Santa Monica until 4th Street (it's the more northerly dashed line on the above image).

The meeting, however, is expected to be a heated one. A group of noisy Cheviot Hills residents are trying to derail the project, asking for it to go underground at Sepulveda. That move would be costly, likely killing the project.

The recommended route is the "best performing alternative when cost and efficiency are added to the environmental characteristics," the final environmental impact report's executive summary states(.pdf). "It would provide high ridership, a competitive travel time, less community disruption, and the least relocation of residents, with the most cost effective price."

By Zach Behrens in News on February 1, 2010 2:15 PM

Expo timetable stays on track, but faces hurdle (Source: www.smdp.com)

Expo timetable stays on track, but faces hurdle

Expo timetable stays on track, but faces hurdle
By Miriam Finder

January 29, 2010

LOS ANGELES — No delays are expected to result from the revocation of a permit that allowed around the clock construction on the Expo Line that will come to Santa Monica in its second phase. However, delays may occur if the second phase's environmental impact report does not pass its Feb. 4 review.

Rick Thorpe, Expo Authority CEO, said he is optimistic that the Expo Construction Authority Board will approve the report, but that nothing is certain until all the public testimony is heard and the meeting is over.

If the board disapproves the report, portions would have to be redone, which could cause delays of eight to 10 months, Thorpe said.

"Obviously, Feb. 4 is a critical juncture in the project," he said.

Although already a year behind schedule, Thorpe said everything now is on schedule to keep the project moving smoothly.

The Los Angeles Police Commission withdrew the construction permit due to noise complaints. Overnight work has been banned.

"Now they're saying they want to know when we're working, how many hours … and that the community has been notified," said Thorpe. "All of which I think is reasonable and doable."

The finished line will run from Downtown Los Angeles through Culver City and possibly along Colorado Avenue ending at Fourth Street in Downtown Santa Monica.

Expo Line hit with another setback After residents complain about nighttime noise, a permit for round-the-clock construction is revoked. Officials hope a compromise will keep neighbors happy but let the work progress faster. (Source: LA times.com)

Link:Expo Line hit with another setback - latimes.com

Expo Line hit with another setback
After residents complain about nighttime noise, a permit for round-the-clock construction is revoked. Officials hope a compromise will keep neighbors happy but let the work progress faster.

By Ari B. Bloomekatz

January 28, 2010


The long-delayed Expo Line was recently dealt another setback when authorities revoked a permit that allowed construction 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Authorities said they revoked the permit last week because of complaints about noise during late-night construction on the line.

The move could further delay construction, which is already more than a year behind schedule, and add to the $862-million price tag to complete the first segment from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City.

That cost has already grown by more than $220 million over the project's original budget of $640 million. The line is planned to eventually reach Santa Monica.

Richard Tefank, executive director of the Los Angeles Police Commission, which has jurisdiction to issue variances to the noise ordinance in the city of Los Angeles, said the 24-hour permit on one section of the line was revoked after an investigation into noise complaints in some of the surrounding neighborhoods.

"The majority of people [investigators] spoke with indicated that the noise was disruptive for them, impacting their quality of life," Tefank said, adding that one investigator visited surrounding neighborhoods at 2 a.m. one evening and heard loud disruptions.

Without the 24-hour permit, construction is allowed between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends and holidays.

Richard Thorpe, chief executive of the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority, the organization responsible for getting the line built, said he was surprised when the commission revoked the 24-hour permit and that it was important to speed up construction.

In a letter to Police Commission President John Mack, Thorpe wrote that the authority had taken several steps to curb noise during nighttime construction and was instructing the project's contractor to request the authority's permission before doing night work.

Thorpe and Tefank met Wednesday to discuss the project, nighttime construction and noise complaints from area residents.

Tefank said they came to an agreement that the Expo authority would submit 30-day construction plans to the commission, outlining when and where nighttime work is needed and why at those times, and the efforts made to reach out to area residents and mitigate noise. If the authority wants to close down entire intersections or streets over a weekend, that must be a separate request.

Based on the plans, Tefank will decide whether to issue a temporary variance for each 30-day period or weekend closure request.

"We understand the necessity to complete the project, but as we clearly mentioned to them, our interest is for the community's ability to have peace and quiet, as much as can be when you're having this type of construction," Tefank said.

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com

Concerns raised as Expo Rail construction continues (Source: Daily Trojan)

Link: Concerns raised as Expo Rail construction continues | Daily Trojan

Concerns raised as Expo Rail construction continues

By Laura Cueva · Daily Trojan

Posted Today at 2:51 am (7 hours ago) in News

Progress on the Expo Line — a rail line that will run down Exposition Boulevard and around the USC campus — continues to chug along, but recent developments may cause traffic congestion in some areas and unrest among citizens in others.

The final version of the project’s Environmental Impact Report was recently released, outlining the possible impacts of extending passenger train service throughout the area. The report noted several overpasses that residents desired near schools could not be built, leaving many residents upset.

The rail line will pass near Dorsey High School and Foshay Learning Center, where at-level street crossing will be built as opposed to aerial overpasses. Concerns have been and continue to be raised about the safety of the crossings, especially in areas with high numbers of children.

“Our basic objection is that the line is being built at street level, and that’s a danger,” said Damien Goodmon, coordinator of the Fix Expo Rail Campaign.

Expo Line project officials and MTA policies, however, said the street and pedestrian crossings are safe and will not be congested.

Beyond safety concerns, the project has faced budgeting and scheduling hurdles from its inception.

“This region needs rail transit,” Goodmon said. “But it does not need it built cheaply and inadequately.”

But Gabriela Collins of the Expo Line project said many of the concerns have arisen from project enhancements that were not part of the original plan. She said the main goal is simply to finish the project.

“We’ve been responsive to concerns,” Collins said. “Our focus is to work to complete construction in a timely fashion and provide an alternative to the 10 freeway, which is highly congested.”

The issues with scheduling — the project was originally set to be finished earlier than is now planned — have been brought to California Public Utilities Commissioner Timothy Simon, who said in an open letter that expediting the project is a major concern.

“You can be assured that I am fully aware of the legitimate public need for a speedy resolution,” Simon wrote. “In this regard, I have asked all of our staff to expedite this process. I consider this of the highest priority.”

The project is currently in Phase 2, which encompasses certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report and outlines an extension and certification of the rail line from Culver City to Santa Monica.

The heavy construction that can be seen around USC is part of the first phase of the Expo Line project, which consists of building the Expo Line from Culver City to Downtown Los Angeles and includes building stations alongside USC on Flower Street at 23rd Street and Jefferson Boulevard and on Exposition at USC and Expo Park.

The rail will go underground just past Jefferson at Figueroa Street and Exposition, Collins said. Now, stations are being built at Jefferson and Hoover Street as well as on Vermont Avenue and Exposition.

Though there is no specific timeline for the construction, Collins said most of it should be completed over the course of the next year.

The rail line will run parallel to the Santa Monica Freeway, one of Los Angeles’ most congested freeways. Other stations will include Vermont, Western, Crenshaw, La Brea and La Cienega, some of the busiest streets in L.A.

Once complete, the rail will allow USC students and others easier access to all areas of Los Angeles.

“The fact that those stations are being built will provide people with easier access to the Galen Center, the Coliseum, the science center and museums without having to look or pay for parking,” Collins said.

According to the Expo Rail Line website, the rail from Culver City to Downtown L.A. via USC will be running by 2012, while the project as a whole is scheduled for completion by 2016.

Roundup on Articles on the Expo Line

Article 1
Delays won't derail Expo project

By Nick Taborek

December 19, 2009
DOWNTOWN — Despite delays and cost overruns during Phase One of the Expo Light Rail project, which is expected to link Santa Monica to Downtown Los Angeles by 2015, City Hall officials and mass transit supporters remain confident the project is on track.

The environmental impact report for the rail line's second phase — the portion that will run from Culver City to Downtown Santa Monica — was released on Friday and is slated to come before the Expo authority's board of directors for a vote Feb. 4. Construction could begin by the end of 2010.

Last week the Los Angeles Times reported the first phase of the project, which was originally supposed to open this summer, has fallen more than a year behind schedule and is running $220 million over budget.

But because the line's two phases are separate projects with separate environmental review processes, delays to the first leg don't necessarily affect the Santa Monica segment, said Mayor Pro Tem Pam O'Connor, who sits on the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority's board of directors.

"It's not like we have to wait until everything in Phase One is done to begin Phase Two," she said.

O'Connor also downplayed cost concerns during the first phase, saying some of the added expenses were because of added infrastructure improvements to the project, not mismanagement. She added the second phase could go more smoothly because of knowledge and experience gained during Phase One.

"Certainly the design-build contracting method (for the second phase) has been refined based on lessons learned," she said.

Supporters of the line are gearing up for a final push as the second phase environmental impact report heads to the board.

"Elected officials need to see there's public support," said Darrell Clarke, who heads the group Friends 4 Expo.

Clarke, a former planning commissioner, agreed that concerns about the first phase don't have bearing on the Santa Monica section's timeline for completion.

"The second half is about a mile shorter," he said. "It's really simpler."

But Kevin Hughes, the president of the Cheviot Hills Homeowners' Association and a past critic of the Expo Authority's handling of the project, said delays during Phase One could cause transportation leaders to expedite Phase Two, while ignoring community groups' concerns.

"Certainly we would expect to hear the argument, 'Hey there's more pressure on you in Phase Two to get this thing moving'" because of Phase One delays, he said.

Hughes' group has asked the Expo Authority to consider putting the rail line underground in the Century City area, citing traffic and safety concerns.

Maintenance yard update

A land swap designed to aid the Expo line's need for a maintenance yard moved ahead last week, as the Santa Monica Community College District Board of Trustees unanimously decided to allow its president to negotiate a deal with City Hall that would compensate the college for SMC-owned land slated to become the rail yard.

Under the plan, a 2.35-acre lot at Stewart Street and Exposition Boulevard currently being used as a parking lot would be used for the maintenance facility. In exchange, City Hall would give the college a lot of equal value located near SMC's Bundy Campus.

Some neighborhood residents have opposed the idea, claiming the proposed rail yard will be yet another environmental blight in an area already impacted by the I-10 Freeway and a solid waste transfer station.

The final EIR for the second phase of the Expo project includes a plan to build a 100-foot buffer aimed at sheltering homes in the vicinity from the proposed facility.

Article 2

Final environmental report issued for pAroposed Expo Line extension

prayitno/Flickr CC

A Metro train nearing downtown Los Angeles, California.

Dec. 20, 2009 | KPCC Wire Services

A Final Environmental Impact report for the proposed Expo Line light rail project has been released, and Westside residents have been told that the hoped-for overpasses cannot be provided near several schoolyards.

The proposed passenger train service will mostly run along the old Southern Pacific tracks from Venice at Robertson boulevards to eastern Santa Monica. The tracks will likely shift to Colorado Boulevard to a proposed downtown terminus three blocks from the pier.

Regional transit authorities have already voted to build the train tracks. The earlier, eastern phase of the project is already under construction between Culver City and downtown Los Angeles, and will be running by 2012.

Regional transit authorities have already voted to build the train tracks. The earlier, eastern phase of the project is already under construction between Culver City and downtown Los Angeles, and will be running by 2012.

The EIR is a government-required study of all imaginable impacts that could be caused by extending passenger train service through the area. The public is allowed to comment on it until Feb. 4.

The Exposition Construction Authority will afterward vote on it, in what will effectively be the final

decision on how to build the $314 million project.

In the final version of the EIR, requests from some Westside residents for overpasses at Westwood Boulevard and Overland Avenue were rejected by the study authors, who said having light-rail tracks crossing the arterial streets will meet safety standards. Elementary schools are nearby those grade

crossings, and state regulatory agencies have ordered MTA to add safety equipment at similar crossings near schools in the Crenshaw District.

But planners said an overpass might be needed to lift the light rail tracks over Sepulveda Boulevard and Sawtelle Avenue, two busy roads that parallel the Santa Monica (10) Freeway under the San Diego (405) Freeway interchange. City of Los Angeles planners convinced the Expo Authority that the

heavy traffic that frequently gridlocks there should not be aggravated with trains.

The Sepulveda-Sawtelle bridge would connect to one planned over the Pico-Gateway boulevards intersection, and Sawtelle Avenue would have to be dropped into a shallow trench so the light rail trains could squeeze under the adjacent 405 viaduct.

The study retains several alternatives for later decision, including whether to eliminate 170 commuter parking spaces proposed for the Westwood Boulevard station, another lightning rod for neighborhood opposition. The decision to ban parking along Colorado Boulevard in Santa Monica, and the exact configuration of the downtown terminus have yet to be determined.

The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the first phase of the Expo Line is late and over-budget. But Santa Monica officials said the ballooning cost was the result of overpasses and other features demanded by stakeholders along the tracks, and said Phase Two is not expected to have such problems.

Many Westside residents have bitterly opposed running up to 24 trains per hour through the expensive, leafy neighborhoods along the abandoned railroad tracks. After that route was adopted, they cited the nearby schools and houses and asked that the train be elevated or put into a trench near Westwood Boulevard and Overland Avenue.

But similar requests were turned down for cost reasons in crowded inner-city neighborhoods, and Expo officials say MTA policies on grade separations for light-rail trains show that the street and pedestrian crossings will be safe, and not congested.

The EIR contains evaluations for not building the train and using buses, but rejects that option because it would require 37 buses and create pollution and congestion. An alternate route, sparing Cheviot Hills but using Sepulveda and Venice boulevards, was rejected as costlier than the old Southern Pacific tracks.

The Final Environmental Impact Report was released late Friday, and is available online at www.buildexpo.org .

Expo and Crenshaw Lines: Under Whose Authority? (Source: CityWatch)

CityWatch - An insider look at City Hall - Expo and Crenshaw Lines: Under Whose Authority?

Expo and Crenshaw Lines: Under Whose Authority?
Moving LA
By Ken Alpern

It appears that there is a growing emphasis to construct transportation projects right the first time, so I am thrilled that the efforts of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to create a first-rate Crenshaw Light Rail Line are paying off.

The Metro Crenshaw Corridor Project, under the leadership of Roderick Diaz, Dave Monks and others, are recommending this transit line be a light rail and not a busway, and are still working out details that will (for a higher cost, of course) create a safer, quicker and more rider-friendly line that could revitalize the Crenshaw Corridor and Inglewood as major economic centers for decades to come. I have been a fan of this Crenshaw project for years, despite its opponents, and I look forward to the network it creates between the Green, Expo and Wilshire Lines once it becomes a reality.

Currently, it is planned to link only the Expo and Green Lines to each other and LAX via Century/Aviation, but the political support for ultimately linking it to the Wilshire Corridor (likely at Wilshire and La Brea, or thereabouts) is rising so fast that the appropriate map for this future key north-south line is as follows:
Active Image
The currently-planned northern terminus of Exposition/Crenshaw is undergoing increasing scrutiny (as it really should) for an underground alignment because north of Crenshaw the street becomes so narrow that any future light rail extension to Wilshire requires a subway.

In fact, the whole darn length of the line under Crenshaw from Exposition to the Harbor Subdivision Right of Way is on its way to being a subway, as both Supervisor Ridley-Thomas and Mid-City LA Councilmember Bernard Parks are pursuing the undergrounding of the line to minimize traffic concerns, increase speed and safety of the line and—most of all—ensure smooth operations and high ridership.

Furthermore, the portion of the line that goes through Westchester is likely to be grade-separated at Manchester, as it should, since Westchester residents have boldly pursued the light rail option but with an elevated station south of Manchester to avoid traffic problems and/or residential street closures.

I am not one of those wedded to at-grade (street-level) rail or grade-separated (elevated or subway) rail, and am neither wedded to the car-is-king philosophy nor the screw-the-car-commuters-because-they’re-sinners philosophy…and I suspect most taxpayers aren’t, either. Inappropriate spending is just that—inappropriate—but a betterment is also just that—a betterment!

To be fair, it remains to be determined whether the extra costs for the grade-separating betterments will be borne at the expense of other projects, but as our political paradigms change (in particular, from building infrastructure on the megacheap to doing things right the first time despite—within reason—the extra cost), it becomes necessary to compare the Expo and Crenshaw Corridor planning processes.

You see, both Ridley-Thomas and Parks, who are championing the subway portion of the Crenshaw Corridor Light Rail Line, are also on the Exposition Line Construction Authority Board, which is on its way to slamming through a purely at-grade line across some of the busiest streets in the Westside.

I refuse to oppose Ridley-Thomas’ and Parks’ desire to pursue the subway option at Crenshaw … but I do have to wonder about the can of worms being ripped open regarding the Expo Line.

Unlike the Crenshaw Corridor team, operating directly under the Metro Authority, and which is offering betterments to achieve more local support for that line, the Expo Line is being built under its own Authority that is operating under an entirely different paradigm.

Those working for the Expo Line Construction Authority, created by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and others during a now-bygone era where transportation funding was always given short shrift and even shorter budgeting, are operating under much tighter fiscal constraints and receive much harsher evaluations from the political and media powers that be when things go over budget.

With the recently-opened Eastside Light Rail Line and the future Expo Line, the pressure to keep things at-grade (and cheaper!) was and is enormous, but with the Crenshaw Corridor the extra costs appear to be received by most parties as: “SO WHAT? AND? THE PROBLEM WITH A BETTER LINE FOR EXTRA MONEY IS WHAT?”

Similarly, the Hobson’s choice for the Expo Line crossing at megacongested Sepulveda Blvd., with either an at-grade crossing with local street widening for $13 million, or an elevated rail crossing for $28 million paid for by the local Casden Developer landowners but with a political go-ahead for a regionally-opposed 8-10 story project, might likely be received as:

“ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME? WHY CAN’T METRO PAY FOR THAT $15 MILLION BETTERMENT AT SEPULVEDA FOR A PROJECT THAT’LL BE AROUND FOR A HUNDRED YEARS?”

I again need to point out that the Expo Line Construction Authority, created by Supervisor Yaroslavsky during a pre-Measure R era, (and after the countywide anti-subway initiative Yaroslavsky sponsored passed overwhelmingly because of cost overruns during the 1980’s/90’s), is merely doing its job: build the Expo Line on time and for as low a cost as possible.

I suspect that Yaroslavsky will (wisely) oppose the extra frills of the Crenshaw Line while he’s fighting to get the Expo Line built without expensive frills, and that he will come into conflict with Ridley-Thomas who (also wisely) recognizes a worthy-but-more-expensive betterment when he sees one.

I just hope that Yaroslavsky, who once was a City Councilmember of the West L.A. region through which the Expo Line will run, and who steadfastly prevented the Expo Line from being built through that region for decades, didn’t create the Expo Line Authority with an engineering and legal staff to line things up, build up the political and legal crescendo to create an unstoppable momentum, and…
KABOOM! An at-grade Expo Line is slammed through West L.A., with car traffic, decreased Expo Line ridership, and/or planning challenges that will plague the region for decades.

I want to go on record as not blaming the Authority staff (again, they’re just doing their jobs), but instead blaming the City of L.A. for not planning for the Expo Line and offering the Authority guidance in its planning.

I also remind City Councilmembers Rosendahl and Koretz, who are for some inexplicable reason are not going to be on the Expo Line Construction Authority Board any time soon, that they are the ones that local residents will look to for leadership and guidance and that they do chair the L.A. City Transportation Committee.

I know that the two Westside City Councilmembers are likely annoyed at being off the Expo Line Authority Board, but the “blame it on Zev” paradigm will have a limited half-life as the Expo Line Westside Phase EIR becomes finalized.

We need first-rate leadership to create a first-rate Expo Line. Whether its Westsiders or Mid-City residents, the taxpaying commuters who voted in Measure R deserve no less.

(Ken Alpern is a Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) and is both co-chair of the MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee and past co-chair of the MVCC Planning Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and also chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at Alpern@MarVista.org.This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)

Emily Gabel-Luddy, head of the LA’s Urban Design Studio, is leading a panel this Friday that'll discuss both the CRA/LA’s Green Tec Corridor and Santa Monica's Expo Line plans.

Curbed LA: CurbedWire: 1140 Formosa On Its Way, AltBuild Panels

CurbedWire: 1140 Formosa On Its Way, AltBuild Panels
Wednesday, May 6, 2009, by Dakota


SANTA MONICA: Emily Gabel-Luddy, head of the LA’s Urban Design Studio, is leading a panel this Friday that'll discuss both the CRA/LA’s Green Tec Corridor and Santa Monica's Expo Line plans. Heady stuff. Via the Inbox: "Two Los Angeles-area municipalities are creating ambitious holistic developments that impact development zones and surrounding areas. The CRA/LA’s Green Tec Corridor will be a ground-up development on a 20-acre parcel downtown. It’s envisioned as a technology campus with an anchor tenant and satellite occupants. The City of Santa Monica is exploring ways to tie together an incoming expo line—now that a station has been sited—its civic center, high school, a new park, the Sears automotive plaza, Holiday Inn and several other planning updates that will see sustainable renovation and/or new development." There's also a second panel about school building. Cut and paste job, err, full details after the jump.

Expo Line will be Safe

CityWatch - An insider look at City Hall - Expo Line will be Safe: It’s a Fact

Expo Line will be Safe: It’s a Fact Print E-mail
Moving LA
By Darrell Clarke

Active ImageSimple fact checking refutes the “Fix Expo” contentions about the Expo Line’s safety, equity, and funding (4/10/09 CityWatch).

Expo Line's phase 1 from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City is well under construction and scheduled to open next year. We can’t have this critical transportation alternative to the Santa Monica Freeway traffic soon enough!

The Expo Line follows the safe standard of mostly-at-grade light rail in many cities: 35 mph under signal control in boulevard medians, 55 mph with gated crossings on private fenced right-of-way, and bridges or underpasses specified where required for cross traffic or topography. Recent local precedents of at-grade light rail are the Pasadena Gold Line, which has had an excellent safety record since opening in 2003, and the Eastside Gold Line, opening later this year. Other cities that have opened similar lines in the last few years include Phoenix, San Francisco, Portland, Salt Lake City, Houston, Minneapolis, and Charlotte.

Finding at-grade light rail more pedestrian-friendly, the City of Santa Monica requested and the Expo Authority just approved that option along Colorado Avenue. Santa Monica’s 3/2/09 city council report noted, “Street-level rail corridors provide greater opportunities over time for retail businesses, an enhanced pedestrian environment and walkable connections to the neighborhoods.”

The Expo Line’s 0.7 mile in Culver City happens to have only one street crossing, across two legs of the intersection of National and Washington. It will have a rail bridge due to traffic. For the same traffic reason there will be over twice the length of similar bridges in Los Angeles east of Ballona Creek over Jefferson, La Cienega, and La Brea, as well as an underpass below Figueroa and Flower.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved the safety of all but one proposed crossing on the Expo Line. That remaining one by Dorsey High will have a pedestrian bridge instead of a gated crossing.

Phase 1 is already funded. Measure R is providing funding for phase 2, the rest of the way to Santa Monica, which is being designed to the same high standards. Federal stimulus money is for "shovel ready" projects that have received environmental clearance and completed their design. These are absolutely not for the unprecedented action of canceling a project well under construction to be unnecessarily redesigned at double the cost. (Darrell Clarke is Co-Chair of Friends 4 Expo Transit. Friends 4 Expo Transit is the grassroots group of volunteers who have been supporting the Expo Line since 2000 (and some individually for 20 years). Our motto, “Connecting Neighbors,” reflects members all along the Exposition corridor in Los Angeles, Culver City, and Santa Monica, plus the larger region. Website: www.friends4expo.org .) ◘

CityWatch
Vol 7 Issue 33
Pub: Apr 24, 2009