LOS ANGELES | Public Transport

[redspork02]

Crews finish dig on one Eastside tunnel
Giant twin boring machines are being used to carve two passages below ground for the Gold Line extension into Boyle Heights.
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
November 17, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/lo...tory?track=rss


A giant boring machine, nicknamed Lola, pushed through the dirt beneath Boyle Heights on Thursday, marking the completion of a subway tunnel that will eventually connect downtown to East Los Angeles.

"This is a huge breakthrough, literally and figuratively, for this community," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who grew up near the Boyle Heights construction site at 1st and Lorena streets.

The twin 1.7-mile tunnels are part of the $900-million Eastside extension of the Gold Line light-rail route through the Little Tokyo/Arts District, Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, ending at Atlantic and Pomona boulevards.

A second tunnel — being excavated by a similar boring machine, dubbed Vicki — still has about 1,000 feet to go before being completed within the next few weeks.

"We are moving forward," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who chairs the MTA board, pledging "to connect all of these communities by public transportation."

The six-mile extension will have eight stops, including two underground in Boyle Heights, and is slated to open in late 2009.

The trip from East Los Angeles to Union Station will take 17 minutes.

When the extension is completed, passengers will be able to travel from East Los Angeles to Pasadena without changing trains.

Plans are being discussed to eventually extend the rail line through the San Gabriel Valley to Ontario International Airport.

The Eastside tunnels were built about 60 feet below ground because the streets are too narrow for the light-rail trains.

The boring machines, which weigh more than 2 million pounds each and are 344 feet long and 22 feet in diameter, excavate, then line the tunnel with 1-foot-thick pre-cast concrete walls.

On average, the machines dig 50 feet of tunnel a day. In all, enough dirt has been removed to fill a football field 15 stories high.

The same tunneling technology was used on the Red Line subway and is proposed for connecting the Foothill Freeway in Pasadena with the Long Beach Freeway in Alhambra.

Boyle Heights resident Art Herrera has been working to get a commuter train through East Los Angeles since 1992, when plans to build a subway there were derailed.

Herrera, 70, envisions a light-rail system that not only eases the commute for area residents but also creates a bustling retail center, like the one in Hollywood, that attracts new visitors.

"It's going to bring a new dimension to the community," he said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jean.guccione@latimes.com

[OettingerCroat]

LA gets money for its metro from the whole state with the twirl of a finger, but when SF needs a new metro, we pay for it ourselves.

may this metro PLEASE be bestowed with inprofitable ridership.

[superchan7]

What passenger railway in this country actually GETS a profiting patronage?

[Elsongs]

Originally Posted by OettingerCroat

LA gets money for its metro from the whole state with the twirl of a finger, but when SF needs a new metro, we pay for it ourselves.

may this metro PLEASE be bestowed with inprofitable ridership.

Ummm, you guys already have a rail system in place for decades. We're just starting up.

And don't you worry, our ridership will be just as "inprofitable" as Frisco's!

[greg_christine]

Just in case it wasn't clear from the article, the tunnel is for an extension of the light rail Gold Line. The Gold Line presently runs from Pasadena to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. The tunnel is on an extension from Union Station to East Los Angeles. An extension of the opposite end of the line is being planned in two phases. The first phase will be from Pasadena to Azusa and the second phase from Azusa to Montclair at the border between Los Angeles and San Bernardino conties. The Montclair terminus would still be several miles short of the Ontario Airport.



More photos can be found at the following link:

http://world.nycsubway.org/us/losangeles/gold.html

For more information on the Gold Line, see the following links:

http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/me.../gold_line.htm

http://www.metrogoldline.org/index2.html

[phubben]

What's with the ugly light rails in the US?

[Plumber73]

I was about to ask the same question.

Actually, I like the one in San Diego.

[city_thing]

I don't think the US does public transport very well, at all. I'm glad to see a city of such massive size is finally discovering its benefits.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Here are some maps. the LA area is in a massive rail building spree. we had no rail 20 years ago, now we have the Red Line subway, the blue line LRT, the Gold Line LRT, the Green Line LRT, the Gold Line east extension opens in 2009, and the Expo Line from Downtown to Culver City (second phase to Santa Monica) broke ground this year.

also in the pipeline are...

1) the Purple Line subway extension down Wilshire to Santa Monica, through UCLA, Beverly Hills, the Miracle Mile, Westwood, Museum Row, etc.

2) Green Line Extension to LAX and Beyond

3) Downtown LA Connector to tie in all the lines together in Downtown LA

4) Crenshaw Line connecting the Expo Line and the Green Line as well as LAX

5) 405 Line from the Valley connecting with the Purple line at UCLA, the Expo Line in Santa Monica and then to LAX and the Green Line.

Most of these will be built by 2015 - 2020, with many more on the way. the area is really turning to rail and its changing the whole landscape of LA and development in LA.

LA Rail Currently



LA in 5 years



LA Potentially (By PracticalVisionary and Damien Goodman)

[soup or man]

Originally Posted by phubben

What's with the ugly light rails in the US?

Generally, when people ride light rail to and from work, they don't want, need, or expect to see a train with crystal glass, silk lined seats, and chinchila carpeting. They expect to ride a light rail that's straight to the point.

Although the Blue Line could use a good cleaning.

[greg_christine]

Originally Posted by phubben

What's with the ugly light rails in the US?

The light rail vehicles in Los Angeles are actually quite attractive compared to the ones in San Jose:



The United States has strict collision strength requirements that I believe keep many of the sleeker light rail vehicles used in Europe from being considered.

[phubben]

Originally Posted by Threehundred

Generally, when people ride light rail to and from work, they don't want, need, or expect to see a train with crystal glass, silk lined seats, and chinchila carpeting. They expect to ride a light rail that's straight to the point.

Although the Blue Line could use a good cleaning.

It's not as if it was cheaper to build a boxy vehicle...
Plus, American subway vehicles a generally both practical and esthetic... Then, why not to do the same thing with light rails?

[spongeg]

cool

I always wondered - was this mucis video shot on the LA metro?

http://music.yahoo.com/vid-2155107--...th-Miss-Kittin

[2Easy]

Not LA, but the train looks so much like ours that it could be Miami.

[philip]

Originally Posted by spongeg

cool

I always wondered - was this mucis video shot on the LA metro?

http://music.yahoo.com/vid-2155107--...th-Miss-Kittin

Yes, it was shot in LA. That station is on the Freeway 110 and 105 interchange, also where the blue line and the green line interchanged. The station name is Imperial Wilmington/Rosa Parks. I used to drive past that place everyday so I know.

[jacobboyer]

Minneapolis has some of the best looking light rail cars.

[2Easy]

Originally Posted by philip

Yes, it was shot in LA. That station is on the Freeway 110 and 105 interchange, also where the blue line and the green line interchanged. The station name is Imperial Wilmington/Rosa Parks. I used to drive past that place everyday so I know.

You're right. I couldn't load the yahoo video and went to youtube and looked at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJz5MK0Rrgk instead of this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaY6Gg0-FSo

[kiku99]

wow, all the way to the Ontaro airport huh. that's pretty far from the city. LA is a very hugh city, so i think it's hard to cover the whole city. another problem for LA metro imo is that there are not that many stations along the line. So after you get off from the train, you would probably have to transfer to other transport system to get to your destination. but well, better not having it at all though

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Beverly Hills doesn't want to miss the subway
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
November 27, 2006

Beverly Hills officials, sensing that a subway to the sea is inevitable, want to ensure the train doesn't pass them by.

They are preparing to select a route and two station locations to best serve residents, as well as business owners and their employees.

It doesn't seem to matter that the city has little say over the path of the proposed 13-mile subway that would travel between downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Or that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which would design, build and operate the subway, is still at least a year or two away from picking the route.

Forget, too, that no money has been set aside for the $5-billion project. Or that using federal funds to tunnel under Wilshire Boulevard still is illegal.

Beverly Hills residents, some of whom once opposed a subway, may be set to endorse a Wilshire Boulevard route from Western Avenue that would include one station at La Cienega Boulevard, and another between Beverly and Rodeo drives.

At community meetings, city leaders have confronted residents' fears of subway crime and potential terrorism. They warn naysayers that, without a subway, traffic on the Westside will only get worse.

"There is an incredible sea change of attitude from resistance to support for the subway," said Allan Alexander, a former Beverly Hills mayor who co-chairs the city's mass transit panel.

Mayor Steve Webb is leading the charge.

He's trying to put Beverly Hills in the best position to lobby federal, state and local officials for the money needed to build the rail line and to make sure it goes through his city.

Webb directed Alexander's subway study committee to "determine what's in our best interest."

The subway study committee's tentative endorsement of the route through the city is to be finalized next month and sent to the City Council for consideration at its January meeting.

A consultant hired by Beverly Hills said Wilshire Boulevard was chosen because it is surrounded by high-density residential and commercial development. It is the county's most heavily traveled transit corridor, according to the MTA.

The committee considered but rejected a route along Santa Monica Boulevard from the subway's Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue station.

Last year, during his campaign for Los Angeles mayor, then-City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa promised to restart the Westside subway project — more than two decades after it had been derailed.

Longtime subway opponents Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), whose district includes parts of West Los Angeles, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents the Westside, now are working with Villaraigosa to try to complete the east-west rail line.

But that's still several years away. First, the proposed subway must be added to the MTA's long-range plan — an essential element for federal funding — and given a high priority.

Even with the MTA board's endorsement, the proposed Red Line subway extension faces stiff competition for construction money.

It will have to vie with plans to extend the Expo Line from Culver City to Santa Monica, the Gold Line through the San Gabriel Valley to the Ontario International Airport and the Green Line from El Segundo to Los Angeles International Airport.

Meanwhile, the agency's planners are dusting off old studies, dating to 1994. Planning alone could take up to two years to complete. The MTA board recently authorized a mere $100,000 to hire a full-time planner to oversee the project.

That's all the money currently dedicated to building the subway to the sea. Efforts by Waxman to overturn a federal ban on subway funding along Wilshire are stalled in the U.S. Senate.

Waxman introduced the measure after experts concluded last year that a subway could be built without risk of another methane explosion like the one that ripped through a Fairfax-area clothing store in 1985. Although no one was killed, concerns about the blast helped lead to the stopping of subway construction.

There is another funding complication. In 1998, Los Angeles County voters, in a move led by Yaroslavsky, barred the use of transportation sales tax revenue for tunneling.

No one is suggesting that ban be lifted. Instead, transit officials, including Yaroslavsky, believe local money may be used for non-tunneling parts of the subway project.

Subway advocates are optimistic, especially with passage earlier this month of a $20-billion state infrastructure bond issue.

But critics, such as the Bus Riders Union, argue that bond money should be used to improve bus service.

To make it all happen, MTA officials, who rarely proceed without local support for regional transit projects, welcome the city of Beverly Hills' early efforts to rally support.

"The seriousness and detail of their work shows their commitment for our common vision for improving transit service," Villaraigosa, an MTA board member, said in a statement last week.

Alexander, a longtime subway advocate, believes mass transit is essential to conveniently ferrying many thousands of workers and visitors in and out of the city daily.

"It will allow people to come to work in the city, shop in the city, visit the city without bringing more cars to the city," he said.

The population of Beverly Hills, with just 35,000 residents, swells weekdays to 250,000. Nearly 28,000 people a day board buses along Wilshire Boulevard within the city's limits.

"I'm hoping that by our taking the initiative in this regard that Century City, Mid-Wilshire, Westwood and even Santa Monica will begin focusing on this," Alexander said.

Beverly Hills officials may still have to persuade some residents. At a recent public meeting, one resident fretted that subway stops create potential terrorist targets. Another expressed concern about transit-related crime.

Overall, however, the tide seems to have turned.

"Anything that we can do to get cars off of our streets will be a plus for the quality of the life for the residents as well as assist the businesses," resident Joe Safier said at a meeting this month.

The business community also is on board.

"Gridlock is such a problem on the Westside that it must be relieved, and we must be part of the equation," Dan Walsh, chief executive of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, said Friday.

Chamber members suspect the traffic congestion they encounter daily could someday discourage visitors from shopping, eating and doing other business in their city.

It also could make it difficult to attract workers.

"We have to make it a piece of cake to get here," Walsh said.

[hkskyline]

Here is a similar article from the newswires :

Beverly Hills may be ready to campaign for a subway
27 November 2006

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - This city of stars and celebrity shoppers wants to go underground.

A transit panel is expected to endorse a subway route along congested Wilshire Boulevard, where buses and cars carry hundreds of thousands of people daily through the city of 35,000.

Officials soon could recommend two station locations that would include the city in a 15-mile "subway to the sea" linking downtown Los Angeles and coastal Santa Monica.

The subway project was stalled more than two decades ago but Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made resuming it one of his campaign promises last year.

Concerns about potential crime and terrorism had residents here long opposed to being part of a subway system. But they appear to have been trumped by worries about congestion.

"Gridlock is such a problem on the Westside that it must be relieved, and we must be part of the equation," Dan Walsh, chief executive of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, said Friday.

"We have to make it a piece of cake to get here," Walsh said.

"There is an incredible sea change of attitude from resistance to support for the subway," said Allan Alexander, a former mayor who co-chairs the city's mass transit panel.

"It will allow people to come to work in the city, shop in the city, visit the city without bringing more cars to the city," he told the Los Angeles Times.

The transit panel is expected to finalize its tentative endorsement of a subway route next month and present it to the City Council in January.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority would pick the route but that may be a year or more away. In addition, no construction money has been allotted for the estimated $5-billion project.

However, efforts are under way to overturn a 1986 ban on the use of federal funds for tunneling through the area.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, pushed through the ban because he feared construction could cause an explosion of naturally occurring methane gas.

But new research has convinced him that tunneling can be done safely, and he has introduced legislation to lift the ban.