Metro Expo Line begins testing trains ahead of expected 2012 opening

Source:

Los Angeles County Metro has begun to ramp up testing along the future Exposition Line, a light rail route that will eventually connect downtown L.A. with Culver City.

Most Angelenos know the drill by now. Warning bells sound, red lights flash, safety gates drop and a few seconds later a Metro train passes by. But, starting Sunday, expect to see the occasional train with no passengers, empty except for a couple engineers.

Metro is testing the timing and safety of every train crossing and signal system of the Expo Line. Tests began Sunday but will continue until its eventual opening. Metro has yet to release the opening date, but many expect it to be in early 2012.



Phase one of the Metro Expo Line is 8.6 miles of light rail stretching from downtown to Culver City, with 12 stops in between. The project cost a cool $932 million, but will also serve USC, Exposition Park, the Mid-City communities and the Crenshaw District. Phase two is a further extension from Culver City to Santa Monica.

As tests begin to be a presence on the line, so does Metro's safety campaign. Retired bus and rail operators turned "safety ambassadors" will be placed at various intersections to teach pedestrians about the system. Metro also says that 63,000 safety flyers have been distributed door-to-door within a two block radius of the line.

An additional 60,000 safety flyers will be distributed during the coming months.

OP-ED: Metro’s Expo Line plan will hurt businesses and neighborhoods in L.A.’s South-Central and Westside. (Source: )Los Angeles Business Journal Online

Los Angeles Business Journal Online - business news and information for Los Angeles California

Heavy Impact of Light Rail

OP-ED: Metro’s Expo Line plan will hurt businesses and neighborhoods in L.A.’s South-Central and Westside.

By MARK RIDLEY-THOMAS

A light-rail line, when built carefully to fit its surroundings, can create a corridor for high-value commercial and residential development.

But a train rumbling through busy intersections in front of shops, homes and schools can also condemn a community to permanent second-class status.

The Expo Line, now being constructed to eventually run from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica, is already alarming residents and business owners in both South-Central and the Westside.

That’s because the light-rail line’s planning methods call for trains to run at street level through busy intersections, including the neighborhoods surrounding Dorsey High School and the Westside Pavilion shopping mall.

Metro’s Grade Crossing Policy dictates whether a train crosses an intersection at street level, is elevated above the crossing or put underground.

Adopted in 2003, the policy favors car traffic volume in decision-making: Train tracks are slated to be built above or below streets at the intersections that move the most cars, since these are most likely to see traffic snarled by the trains.

Coincidentally, the intersections with the most car traffic – and those set to get grade-separated crossings – tend also to be in more well-off neighborhoods. Those areas tend to have vibrant commercial centers, which in turn generate car traffic.

In the low-income neighborhoods in which apartment dwellers will look straight out their front windows to see speeding trains, and where retail stores already lead a fragile existence, the rail line could become a development death sentence.

Land values can quickly be dragged down by a poorly executed rail line. If trains take up lanes previously used by cars, the area’s traffic-handling ability is reduced. When that happens, developers must downsize any new building projects to fit that lower capacity.

When running trains make it difficult for cars to drive in and out of store parking lots, or to easily make turns, a rail line can be disastrous for retailers.

Expo Line, Phase I Expo Authority Finds Compromise, Has a Lot of Work to Do (Source: Curbed LA)

Curbed LA: Expo Authority Finds Compromise, Has a Lot of Work to Do

Expo Line, Phase I
Expo Authority Finds Compromise, Has a Lot of Work to Do

Wednesday, February 10, 2010, by Neal Broverman

As reported, the much-anticipated Expo Line light-rail from downtown to Culver City (and then Santa Monica) is running a bit behind schedule. The Expo Construction Authority is working round the clock to open the line to Crenshaw this year, and to downtown Culver City in 2011 or 2012, but the LAPD shut down 24-hour construction after the locals complained of noise. The two groups recently got together to try to meet in the middle. Samantha Bricker, an Expo spokeswoman, tells us that, "We’ve met several times with the police commission, as well as with the community, and the path forward is that we will be preparing monthly requests to the police commission which outlines all our anticipated work going forward for that month and we will demonstrate what community outreach efforts we’ve made and then they will hopefully give their approval on a monthly basis for that work." Bricker says the construction authority is also working on mitigating noise and justifying the night work to locals. As evident in these photos of the future Phase I terminus stop in downtown Culver City (which will be elevated like a Chicago 'L' station), a lot of work remains. Also evident is that the area around the stop looks like a still from The Road, and is rife for development.

L.A. waits for its opening(s) (Source: MetroRiderLA)

Link: L.A. waits for its opening(s) | MetroRiderLA

L.A. waits for its opening(s)
Contributed by Wad on September 16th, 2009 at 2:50 am

Portland opens new Green Line

Portland’s TriMet added its new Green Line to its light rail network. It opened Saturday.
Photo by Adron B. Hall / Transit Sleuth

It was never easier being green that this weekend. Two cities opened two new light rail lines — both of them happen to be their respective systems’ Green Lines — on the same day. Portland and Dallas both opened extensions this past weekend. And earlier in the summer, Seattle opened the first leg of its Link light rail line.

So when does L.A. get to join in on the party? For the Gold Line extension to East L.A., we don’t know. The construction is complete, but the line south of Union Station must first go through “stress tests,” then six weeks of simulated revenue service without passengers. We are already in September, and the chances are dwindling that the Gold Line extension may still open by the end of the year.

That’s not even the bad news. The bad news is for Expo Line riders. The line, already 50 weeks behind schedule, now will not open until 2011, the Los Angeles Times reports. Only part of it was because of the grade-crossing controversy near Foshay Middle School and Dorsey High. The other problems stem from sewer repair at La Brea Avenue and bridge work near National Boulevard and Ballona Creek.

It’ll be a long while before we could report on light rail parties like the ones in Portland and Dallas. Here’s selected blog coverage from Portland’s Green Line opening festivities:

Another delay pushes Expo Line opening to late 2011 (Source: LA Times)

Link: Another delay pushes Expo Line opening to late 2011 -- latimes.com

Another delay pushes Expo Line opening to late 2011
A September report projects a 50-week delay in opening the 8.6-mile light-rail system from downtown L.A. to Culver City. The project is about half finished.
By Dan Weikel

September 15, 2009

Though the Expo Line light-rail system from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City is about half finished, construction problems have pushed back completion of the project by another six weeks to almost a year.

Expo officials said they had planned to open the 8.6-mile line in 2010, but parts of the route would not be completed until the latter part of 2011. Earlier this year, the estimated delay was 44 weeks, a figure that has been revised to 50 weeks in a September report to the Expo Line Construction Authority board.

Officials attribute the additional six weeks of delay to the late completion of a bridge at National Boulevard, which set back construction of a bridge at Ballona Creek. Expo Chief Executive Richard Thorpe said there also have been complications involving sewer lines where the route crosses Jefferson Boulevard and La Brea Avenue.

The bulk of the delay has been attributed to the addition of a third aerial station that eliminated the need for an interim station and a controversy over pedestrian safety at Dorsey High School and the Foshay Learning Center. The California Public Utilities Commission eventually required improvements to a pedestrian tunnel at Foshay and a pedestrian bridge at Dorsey.

Thorpe said further delays have been caused by problems trying to lower power lines at La Brea and La Cienega Boulevard.

Though Expo officials say the project is still within its cost estimates, the September report states that "there are still outstanding issues that could pose a significant risk to the budget."

The $862-million line between downtown and Culver City broke ground in 2006. It will run from the 7th Street Metro Center to USC where it will turn onto Exposition Boulevard and proceed to Venice Boulevard and Robertson Avenue in Culver City.

dan.weikel@latimes.com

Activist Calls For Congressional Safety Hearings on Blue Line Safety

Activist Calls For Congressional Safety Hearings on Blue Line Safety

Updated 3:00 PM PDT, Fri, May 22, 2009




A day after a man was killed and a woman injured in separate collisions involving the Metro Blue Line, an activist today called for congressional hearings on the safety of the light rail line between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach.

A 55-year-old man was struck and killed by a northbound train in the 1600 block of East 48th Street yesterday. About five and a half hours later, a 49-year-old woman was critically injured when she was struck by a Blue Line train in the 1500 block of South Flower Street.

Since the Blue Line opened in 1990, there have been 826 collisions and 93 deaths. Metro officials say about 20 of those deaths were suicides.

"Clearly, MTA is indifferent to the safety of the members of the public who must interface with their trains," said Damien Goodmon of the Citizens' Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line.

"Absent congressional intervention and oversight to require MTA quickly implement necessary changes to their rail system and internal processes, MTA will continue killing on the tracks with impunity," he said. "How much longer must these preventable tragedies continue to occur?"

Metro officials said the criticism ignores safety improvements, including safety cameras and gates that stop motorists and pedestrians from crossing when trains are approaching intersections.

Those safety measures have also been implemented along the Metro Gold Line and the under-construction Eastside Extension.

"It's really been an evolving process over the last 20 years," said Metro spokesman Rick Jager. "We need a partner here and that partner is the public. They need to be aware that trains have the right of way and they need to stop, look and listen."


Copyright City News Service

The CRA board unanimously agreed Thursday to begin negotiating exclusively with an Italian rail company,AnsaldoBreda, that has drawn up plans to build a rail car factory, which translates into local jobs. This explains why the CRA is so interested.

Italian rail company moves ahead in L.A. | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times

Italian rail company moves ahead in L.A.
7:29 AM | May 22, 2009


The Community Redevelopment Agency board unanimously agreed Thursday to begin negotiating exclusively with an Italian rail company that has drawn up plans to build a rail car factory on a city-owned parcel east of downtown.

The CRA board's approval was just a first step for the rail company, AnsaldoBreda, which is lobbying the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for a $300-million deal to build 100 additional light-rail cars for several Metro lines, including the Gold Line and Expo Line extensions.

The company is already under contract to build 50 cars for the agency, but the MTA staff had recommended opening the bidding for the new contract to other rail companies because the AnsaldoBreda cars were late and overweight, MTA officials said. The company has blamed the problems on last-minute MTA requests.

The tentative agreement approved by the CRA board Thursday set the terms for the rail company to lease a prized parcel of city land -- a deal that would be executed only if the MTA board agrees, as early as next Thursday, to let AnsaldoBreda build the 100 cars.

AnsaldoBreda officials said they would build an energy-efficient "green" building on 14 acres of city land near the intersection of 15th Street and Washington Boulevard in the city's old industrial core. The company would pay $906,000 in rent annually -- with reappraisals at various points over the 50-year lease -- and make a rent payment of $15 million upfront to help the CRA pay off its loan on the property.

-- Maeve Reston

LA's Expo Light Rail on track with controversies in tow

The Architect's Newspaper

05.13.2009
Crossing the Line
LA's Expo Light Rail on track with controversies in tow

The proposed La Cienega station would be one of a number of elevated stations.
Courtesy Exposition Construction Authority

Work on a century-old railroad right-of-way in Los Angeles is chugging right along. With Phase I of the Exposition Light Rail Transit Line well underway—and due for completion by the end of 2010—the line will follow an 8.6-mile route from downtown to Culver City.

The University of Southern California’s station is nearly complete in Exposition Park. Pylons for an overpass are rising on either side of La Brea Avenue, tracks are welded in Culver City, and the line’s undulating sun-shield canopies should start shimmering above stations starting in May. Although beleaguered by community groups seeking changes, the Expo Line remains on track.

The $2-billion-plus project, which is managed by the Exposition Construction Authority (a state agency only partially funded by LA’s transit authority), was given a boost by Measure R. The half-cent county sales tax passed by voters last fall will provide needed funds during Phase II—expansion to Santa Monica—and has lent an overall sense of confidence to the project.

A view of the proposed platform at Washington/National station, which is a model for those throughout the system.
All images courtesy Exposition Construction Authority

“Before Measure R, there was always the possibility that, due to lack of funding, Phase II could be delayed," said Roland Genick, lead designer for the project's urban design and architecture. "But now it looks like it might get accelerated, and final design might start earlier.” On May 18, an industry review allowed potential design-build teams to begin viewing procurement documents for Phase II. The companies involved in station architecture, urban design, and engineering during Phase I include Gruen Associates, Parsons, and Miyamoto International.

The Expo Line has a unified design, meaning all stations adhere to the same basic system, with slight customization at each station during the fabrication and installation phase. One detail that designers hope riders will notice is the patterns of tiny perforations in the sun shields: dot-matrix photographs from the neighborhood, which will be shadowed on the ground. The stations will also be transformed significantly at night, thanks to illumination from within the rain shelters. Artists have been selected for each station, adding another layer of local reference.

In addition to the stations themselves, a flurry of development has cropped up along the Phase I transit corridor. Culver City has purchased a triangle of land next to the new Robertson-Venice station, where a mixed-use development with commercial space, a potential boutique hotel, and residential units has been proposed by developers Urban Partners with architects Moule & Polyzoides.

Further east near the La Cienega station, Eric Owen Moss has unveiled a concept for a 200,000-square-foot residential tower developed by Samitaur Construct. Surrounding the Crenshaw station, the Community Redevelopment Agency has completed a vision plan with Urban Studio that will bring pedestrian improvements, bicycle facilities, and a comprehensive landscape plan by ah’bé landscape architects to Crenshaw Street.
An aerial view of the proposed Western station.


Not everyone is happy. As development spikes along the route, grassroots groups like Citizens’ Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line and Neighbors For Smart Rail have mobilized, specifically to prevent at-grade crossings in neighborhoods, which they believe will increase accidents, traffic, noise, and glare. The groups have also claimed that residents in lower-income neighborhoods are not receiving the same safety measures as wealthier Westside residents.

The Citizens’ Campaign focused their efforts on the Exposition Boulevard-Farmdale Avenue crossing, which was deemed too close to Dorsey High School, whose students would have to cross the at-grade alignment. After a February ruling that deemed the crossing unsafe, Expo began work on a new proposal to include a pedestrian bridge and a likely permanent closing of Farmdale. An Environmental Impact Review will be available for public comment this summer, and major changes could delay the opening for a year.

On April 2, Expo announced the preferred alignment for the project’s Phase II to Santa Monica, exiting Culver City on the existing Exposition right-of-way through a corner of Cheviot Hills to the art complex at Bergamot Station and continuing along Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, ending just blocks from the Pacific. Although the route is not confirmed, it already has its own set of issues. Some residents in Cheviot Hills rallied unsuccessfully for a new alignment down Sepulveda that avoided their neighborhood completely.

The proposed La Brea station.


Further west, Santa Monica residents are up in arms about a potential Verizon facility recommended as a maintenance yard (it has not yet been purchased, but Expo is in negotiations). Groups were so incensed about the yard butting up against one of the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods that they put forth a proposal to use the ancient maintenance yard at Bergamot Station instead, striking fear into the local art community.

“The Bergamot takeover is a non-issue—it has never been considered as the site—but with the right design and input from residents, a maintenance facility with a park or mixed-use buffer could actually be an asset to the neighborhood,” said Genick. “We are heading into a new city and one that, while very supportive, is pretty opinionated,” he added.

As the Expo Line continues to travel west (Phase II could be operating by 2014 if construction begins next year as planned), it will be serving more affluent residents, meaning riders who will demand more from their transit system. “You need a solution for the majority, and good design can solve a lot of problems," said Genick, who welcomes the challenges. "Developing designs that are cognizant of the community concerns will result in the communities being invested in the project, and it will be a better project for it.”
Alissa Walker

Exposition Light Rail Construction Authority News Letter

http://www.buildexpo.org/handouts/2009%20Spring%20Edition%20of%20Expo%20E-Newsletter%20-%20for%20Web.pdf, please click here for PDF file

L.A. officials weigh exclusive deal with Italian rail firm

L.A. officials weigh exclusive deal with Italian rail firm - Los Angeles Times

L.A. officials weigh exclusive deal with Italian rail firm

A redevelopment agency vote today could set the stage for AnsaldoBreda to build a manufacturing plant in downtown L.A.'s future green corridor.
By Maeve Reston

May 21, 2009

Los Angeles redevelopment officials are drawing closer to an agreement with an Italian rail car company that hopes to build a manufacturing plant on a prized city site east of downtown.

The company, AnsaldoBreda, is angling for a $300-million contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 100 light-rail cars, some of which would be used for the expansion of Metro's Gold and Expo lines.

The company proposed the Los Angeles-based plant and a corporate headquarters earlier this year, when it learned that MTA staff had criticized the firm's performance on a previous 50-car contract. By creating up to 650 full-time jobs in Los Angeles, AnsaldoBreda hopes to improve its odds of securing the new contract.

The city's Community Redevelopment Agency board, whose members are appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is slated to vote today to authorize an exclusive agreement that would set the stage for AnsaldoBreda to build on a parcel near 15th Street and Santa Fe Avenue in the city's industrial core.

The mayor hopes the city-owned site could serve as southern anchor for a green corridor that would attract clean technology companies to Los Angeles.

As the city struggles with 12% unemployment, approval from the redevelopment board could increase pressure on members of the MTA board to agree to the 100-car deal with AnsaldoBreda as early as next week's meeting.

In March, the MTA's former chief executive, Roger Snoble, advised the board to seek bids from other rail companies for the 100 cars, because AnsaldoBreda's cars had arrived late and 5,000 to 6,000 pounds overweight, he said.

With the backing of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Villaraigosa, the MTA board chairman and a board ally successfully brokered a two-month reprieve to give the MTA's incoming chief executive time to review the rail company's performance.

AnsaldoBreda officials have said MTA's problems with the initial 50 cars stem from changes requested by the agency.

Officials at the Community Redevelopment Agency have stressed that an agreement with AnsaldoBreda hinges entirely on the MTA's decision.

The exclusive agreement under discussion sets out a 50-year lease with AnsaldoBreda for 14 acres of the 20-acre site -- allowing the city to pursue additional tenants.

Redevelopment officials are also seeking a series of guarantees from AnsaldoBreda to ensure that the company follows through with its promise to build an environmentally friendly plant on the site, a formerly contaminated parcel that the city purchased from the state in 2008 for $14 million.

AnsaldoBreda, which would be eligible for sizable state and federal tax breaks in that industrial zone, would agree to pay $906,000 in rent annually to the city, and would make a nonrefundable rent payment of $15.1 million up front, allowing officials to pay off the loan they got to purchase the property.

City officials said the company could face $35 million in penalties if it did not complete the project.

maeve.reston@latimes.com

City Has a Plan for Expo Bike Path, But What About Complete Streets?

Streetsblog » City Has a Plan for Expo Bike Path, But What About Complete Streets?

City Has a Plan for Expo Bike Path, But What About Complete Streets?

by Damien Newton on May 20, 2009

Cyclists on the Expo Exposure Ride take a break in front of Dorsey High.

It finally appears as though the Expo Bike Path, the path that is going to run parallel to Phases I and II of the Expo Line is going to be built. After the Expo Construction Authority punted on taking the lead on the project earlier this year, leaving the federally funded path to Los Angeles, Culver City and Santa Monica to complete the environmental reviews; it appeared the path might not happen. After all, if construction couldn't begin by the time Phase II of the Expo Line began construction, the path would become unaffordable.

However, the LADOT and City of Los Angeles seem poised to rush through the environmental review so that the path is ready for construction by the end of the calendar year. Soon, a final design for the path will be available for public review as part of the NEPA process required before any federal dollars can be spent.

While a lot of work has gone into getting the path to this phase, and in addressing the areas where teh path will temporarily turn into bike lanes; there is still criticism of the path which will come up as the review process moves forward. Of chief concern is the design of the path which has cyclists moving parallel and next to the I-10 for on portion of the ride and moves cyclists onto bike lanes on National for another stretch. Despite the planner's intent that the path would connect the Downtown to Santa Monica, there has yet to be a public presentation of any plan to provide a feeder network into the path for cyclists looking to get in off local streets.

For example, the plan calls for bike lanes on Exposition Boulevard as it crosses Western, home of the controversial crossing of the Foshay Learning Center. If you look at an overhead map of the area, you'll see that the Expo Line will run down the middle of Exposition and the bike lanes will run one-way parallel the car traffic. That means that any student, teacher or administrator that lives west of the learning center would either have to ride in the wrong direction on Exposition Blvd, walk their bike or take a half-mile detour to safely enter the center at the start of the day. The opposite is true for those living east of the school that want to bike home at the end of the day.

My guess? Most students will ride in the wrong direction on Exposition for the last leg of their ride, against the grain of traffic and contrary to what we're trying to teach them about safe cycling.

So if the planned bike path isn't the perfect solution, what is? Last week on the "Expo Exposure" ride, the third annual "Bike Not to Work Day" ride, a group of thirty cyclists rode path of the future Expo line from Vermont Ave all the way into Culver City. As the group of cyclists snaked down the residential areas of Exposition Boulevard, a similar thought was expressed by nearly every cyclist I spoke with: this street, running parallel to the light rail, would make a perfect Bike Boulevard or complete street.

The concept of a Bike Boulevard is a street that is designed not only for cyclists, but to give a community control of its streets and open space. A great explanation of a Bike Boulevard can be found on the Bicycle Transportation Alliance of Portland's webpage.

Turning Exposition into a Boulevard would not impede residents from getting to and from their homes but would instead tie the community better in to the light rail line and encourage residents to embrace the rail and their local streets. Such treatments would also make for safer crossings near Dorsey High School and the Foshay Learning Center by reducing commuter traffic near the schools.

It would take some work, but creating a series of complete, protected and community-controlled streets connecting the Downtown to Santa Monica, to provide cyclists a series of safety and equality while biking on our streets can be done. However, it would take a major investment of time and brainpower by planners in all three cities. The first step in getting that investment is asking and then demanding it.

The good news is that the bike path is on its way; but that still leaves the question of whether or not the bike path is the best thing the three Expo cities should be doing for cyclists and for their community.