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Post by darrell on May 4, 2010 13:32:07 GMT -8
But, now, we need some panorama pictures. You got me thinking ... we can't post wider than 800 pixels here, but I did this 3940-pixel-wide 360o panorama from the Cheviot trench back in 2003, and now a 1600-pixel-wide version of a La Brea photo. Is that a good size? On this subject, last night I printed a 39" x 19" version (in three 13" x 19" sections on my new Canon printer) of the shot after this South Pasadena photo (below). It's about the limit of how big I can enlarge 18 Mpixel originals, but it looks awesome! Too bad there's no way to share on the web.
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Post by Gokhan on May 4, 2010 14:59:39 GMT -8
I was asking for a full view of the bridge as seen from La Brea. I might take a picture myself later this week. I love it! For those who aren't familiar with it, the dirt area is the right-of-way and the green area is the restricted-use easement. It's a really nice panorama of the northwest portal of the Palms Overhead.
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Post by rubbertoe on May 5, 2010 7:04:11 GMT -8
Seeing the roller coaster ride up/down for La Brea, La Cienega and the end station had me wondering about regenerative braking. I know the subway cars use it, do the light rail cars have this feature? Are they able to feed power back into the wires when they brake?
RT
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Post by Gokhan on May 5, 2010 9:17:45 GMT -8
No regenerative braking as far as I know.
But you don't need regenerative braking for the elevated stations -- you already have gravitational energy slowing down the train and speeding it up. Because of that less energy is lost for having an elevated station in comparison to an at-grade station. The worst case would be a trench station, where you would wear a lot of brakes and consume a lot of energy coming back up. There regenerative braking would be especially helpful.
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Post by Tony Fernandez on May 5, 2010 12:01:37 GMT -8
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Post by darrell on May 5, 2010 13:14:43 GMT -8
Tony, your links all returned this error message: Error 403 - Forbidden You tried to access a document for which you don't have privileges.
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Post by Tony Fernandez on May 5, 2010 14:46:02 GMT -8
That website always gives problems, let me see if I can find some other links.
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Post by Tony Fernandez on May 5, 2010 14:56:52 GMT -8
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Post by Justin Walker on May 5, 2010 15:51:02 GMT -8
Today on the Expo Line adjacent to USC, crews were busy at work installing black OCS poles, instead of the silver OCS poles being used on the rest of the alignment. Installed poles adjacent to the Vermont station (note the silver poles in the distance): Installed poles east of the Vermont station: Crews working their way east toward Trousdale installing poles:
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Post by erict on May 5, 2010 16:51:10 GMT -8
I think that the LaBrea bridge is a very attractive and exciting design, one of Metro's best. I love the simplicity, and retro Eero Saarinen curves.
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Post by Tony Fernandez on May 5, 2010 17:47:52 GMT -8
I like the curves, but the concrete just looks so plain.
And interesting about those black poles.
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Post by darrell on May 5, 2010 19:37:44 GMT -8
I think that the LaBrea bridge is a very attractive and exciting design, one of Metro's best. I love the simplicity, and retro Eero Saarinen curves. Lead designer Roland Genick had multiple meetings with the Urban Design Committee about this design. The starting point was a conventional straight span, but committee members wanted more of a gateway statement across the boulevards. The slightly arched span and sloped piers were the conclusion. Somewhere I have some earlier concept images, unfortunately not at hand.
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Post by Gokhan on May 5, 2010 22:17:11 GMT -8
Still not a full shot of the La Brea bridge. I will have to go by it Friday.
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Post by rubbertoe on May 6, 2010 7:11:30 GMT -8
Not to wander too off topic but Gokhan previously referenced a Hollywood screening of a restored "Metropolis". I missed this as I was very busy that weekend. The NY Times has a nice story about it, and it will be showing there too: www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/movies/05metropolis.htmlRT
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Post by Tony Fernandez on May 6, 2010 7:37:57 GMT -8
Well hopefully the landscaping will spruce it up. Plants can help almost any design.
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Post by Gokhan on May 6, 2010 8:40:28 GMT -8
Not to wander too off topic but Gokhan previously referenced a Hollywood screening of a restored "Metropolis". I missed this as I was very busy that weekend. The NY Times has a nice story about it, and it will be showing there too: www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/movies/05metropolis.htmlRT I attended the North American premiere shown at the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood and Highland. The theater was packed and I was one of the very last people who got in and it was a spectacular experience with the live orchestra, who did a really good job as well. The insertion of the previously lost footage really transformed the film. I really had a great time and was quite touched. Here is the story of the premiere in Hollywood: screencrave.com/2010-04-26/tcm-film-festival-metropolis/Here is the official Web site for the rediscovered film: www.kino.com/metropolis/
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Post by rajacobs on May 6, 2010 15:25:21 GMT -8
Removal of asphalt and concrete from the north side of National, between Jefferson and Venice, has begun (where the bike and walking path will be), with the scrapings dumped on the Phase II ROW north of Venice and east of Bagley.
Additionally, all graffiti is removed and where graffiti was painted over with white paint, those columns were sand-blasted clean.
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Post by Gokhan on May 6, 2010 17:10:52 GMT -8
According to the board meeting today, delays have increased by another two weeks to 60 weeks. It looks like every month is bringing another week of delay. Although, Expo have now given the contractor 96 days of slack and the delay is now currently reported as 46 weeks. The contractor is disputing this and apparently asking for a slack for the entire amount of the delay.
A bunch of safety measures, including the Farmdale Station, the total amounting to about $10 million, were approved and Rick will go to Metro to get the money as this is not part of the budget. This was unanimously approved again but of course Mark Ridley-Thomas (his representative) abstaining and pointing fingers at Expo and saying Phase 2 should be done differently.
Phase 2 preliminary engineering is starting tomorrow and it will take six months.
Storage facility (what used to be the storage & inspection facility) was approved as well. Jan Perry requested staff to make sure to include landscaping. It will cost $30 million, which is the same as the now defunct facility next to the Blue Line facility, for which they couldn't purhase the land. Although, that would have required very long trips for the trains. They are saving about $9 million by omiting the inspection facilities and the facility will be purely for storage.
As posted under the Farmdale thread, the board unanimously approved the settlement with LAUSD for the Farmdale Station but, of course with Mark Ridley-Thomas (his representative, as he doesn't attend these meetings himself) abstaining. The settlement has many, many conditions, and it imposes a speed limit of 15 MPH forced by automatic train control in addition to the full stop at the platform.
Well, doing the math now, with the current delays, the date of the substantial completion to La Cienega is: May 8, 2010 + 46 weeks = March 26, 2011 (Note that this is not speculation but what is reported by the contractor.)
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Post by Justin Walker on May 6, 2010 17:53:08 GMT -8
Well, doing the math now, with the current delays, the date of the substantial completion to La Cienega is: May 8, 2010 + 46 weeks = March 26, 2011 (Note that this is not speculation but what is reported by the contractor.) That date is also consistent with Bruce Shelburne's report at the recent Transit Coalition meeting; he said the Expo Line was tentatively scheduled to be turned over to Metro on April 1, 2011 (and to be opened on July 1st). Hopefully no new delays will push it back further.
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Post by metrocenter on May 6, 2010 21:18:09 GMT -8
Today on the Expo Line adjacent to USC, crews were busy at work installing black OCS poles, instead of the silver OCS poles being used on the rest of the alignment. Installed poles adjacent to the Vermont station (note the silver poles in the distance): I saw those today. They look much better than the industrial-gray ones along the rest of Exposition. Also, the Expo Park/USC station looks nicer (with the bricks surrounding it) and the track is embedded. All this has an appearance of USC getting the gravy and South L.A. getting the crumbs. Did Expo work with USC on these design details after they said they wouldn't? The administration of USC fought the station and refused to pay for anything: supposedly Expo said they were just going to build a regular station like all the other ones.
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Post by tobias087 on May 6, 2010 22:12:56 GMT -8
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on May 7, 2010 6:47:27 GMT -8
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Post by Gokhan on May 7, 2010 11:54:35 GMT -8
I saw those today. They look much better than the industrial-gray ones along the rest of Exposition. Also, the Expo Park/USC station looks nicer (with the bricks surrounding it) and the track is embedded. All this has an appearance of USC getting the gravy and South L.A. getting the crumbs. Did Expo work with USC on these design details after they said they wouldn't? The administration of USC fought the station and refused to pay for anything: supposedly Expo said they were just going to build a regular station like all the other ones. This is not correct. All Expo Phase 1 stations are identical, including Jefferson, Expo Park/USC, and Vermont. Poles and brick-patterned retaining walls are not part of the stations. I am guessing that they have painted the poles black there so that they would match the black fences on the retaining walls for the trench. There might also be shallow black fences along the right-of-way to discourage jaywalking and trespassing.
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Post by Gokhan on May 7, 2010 13:42:02 GMT -8
More trackwork this weekend at Washington and Flower as well as Pico and Flower.
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Post by metrocenter on May 7, 2010 15:22:38 GMT -8
Poles and brick-patterned retaining walls are not part of the stations. I am guessing that they have painted the poles black there so that they would match the black fences on the retaining walls for the trench. There might also be shallow black fences along the right-of-way to discourage jaywalking and trespassing. I would guess other sections of the line are getting anti-jaywalking fences too, like the Eaatside Line eventually got. So those sections should be getting matching black poles too. But they're not. Anyway, it's just the appearance of things: I'm not claiming any knowledge of favoritism. But it does make me wonder.
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Post by bluelineshawn on May 7, 2010 17:07:24 GMT -8
Unless USC paid for the additional improvements it's more than just the appearance of favoritism. That's what it is.
I pessimistically expect to see much more of this on Phase 2.
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Post by Justin Walker on May 7, 2010 18:26:28 GMT -8
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on May 8, 2010 3:01:07 GMT -8
Unless USC paid for the additional improvements it's more than just the appearance of favoritism. That's what it is. I pessimistically expect to see much more of this on Phase 2. So is your meta message that you think the MTA is showing favoritism to USC because of black poles and patterned concrete? Come on. Could it be they just realized silver poles don't look as nice black ones in this combination in past installations so they changed the spec? Frankly, the cost of poles in either anodized or black is probably similar if not identical in this quantity and I think that if they can make cost effective, minor changes to the design to better integrate with the surroundings - why not? And you WILL continue to see improvements and better installations all through phase 2 because they are getting better at what they do and making changes based on past experience. What you won't see are the obscene scads of cash lavishly dropped on all the red line stations for "art" projects. That was insanity and probably really pissed off bus riders who saw that and had to contend with crap buses and stations elsewhere. But now that the MTA is hitting their stride building these projects, they have full time, thoughtful designers on staff that take the time to tweak the spec a bit to fit surroundings. This is GOOD! Don't blame them for it!
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Post by erict on May 8, 2010 7:02:55 GMT -8
I do see favoritism to USC in the station, even though USC did nothing to deserve special treatment. USC leaders (Steven B. Sample) went out of their way to oppose the Expo line, claiming it should be built underground (A.K.A not built at all). Why would you oppose a rail line your students could use? Anyway, I like to look of the patterned concrete. www.usc.edu/president/speeches/2006/faculty_address.html
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Post by trackman on May 8, 2010 11:31:15 GMT -8
Unless USC paid for the additional improvements it's more than just the appearance of favoritism. That's what it is. I pessimistically expect to see much more of this on Phase 2. So is your meta message that you think the MTA is showing favoritism to USC because of black poles and patterned concrete? Come on. Could it be they just realized silver poles don't look as nice black ones in this combination in past installations so they changed the spec? Frankly, the cost of poles in either anodized or black is probably similar if not identical in this quantity and I think that if they can make cost effective, minor changes to the design to better integrate with the surroundings - why not? And you WILL continue to see improvements and better installations all through phase 2 because they are getting better at what they do and making changes based on past experience. What you won't see are the obscene scads of cash lavishly dropped on all the red line stations for "art" projects. That was insanity and probably really pissed off bus riders who saw that and had to contend with crap buses and stations elsewhere. But now that the MTA is hitting their stride building these projects, they have full time, thoughtful designers on staff that take the time to tweak the spec a bit to fit surroundings. This is GOOD! Don't blame them for it! Scads of money for art on the red Line? I beg to differ. I see a lot of recycled material or tiles that... are probably easier/cheaper to maintain over time. For scads of money for art...see the Gold Line east Extension to East LA.
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