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Post by joshuanickel on Mar 17, 2015 15:57:16 GMT -8
I think they're way of base on projecting weekend demand for expo though, In good weather the line will see very high ridership on the weekends, it's sort of bizarre they're saying 7.5 min head ways for final gold line weekend service, but 12 min head ways for final expo weekend service I am pretty sure that when they get all the trains in, they will increase service. The summer months will show what the weekend demand will be like.
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Post by joshuanickel on Mar 17, 2015 16:06:33 GMT -8
We should here Skanska's version of how on-schedule they are or not in the April board meeting, as they are required to give the completion date when they reach 90% completion. Contract date for handover to Metro is July 10, 2015. According to the monthly Metro Construction Schedule Update, due to not all of the rain contingency being used for 2014, the substantial completion has moved from December to November of 2015. Unfortunately, the same report has stated that the maintenance facility that was set for substantial completion in May has now slipped to October. Transit Program Project Budget and Schedule Status Report
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Post by John Ryan on Mar 17, 2015 16:55:10 GMT -8
When would train car deliveries be expected to allow Expo to switch to more frequent headways? What are they considering on weekends until that time? More than 12 minutes is a disaster...it becomes a commuter line and not a light rail. This is all quite disappointing.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 18, 2015 17:32:14 GMT -8
Contract date for substantial completion is July 20, 2015. We'll find out in a couple of weeks what the actual date may be.
It's too bad for the maintenance facility. Everything that's being done in the Westside seems to take twice longer than in the Eastside for some reason.
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Post by rail2love on Mar 18, 2015 20:20:45 GMT -8
I wonder if funding has something to do with it??? To get the Eastern part of LA county to pay for the greater good, we may need to appease them by having the gold line open first.
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Post by darrell on Mar 18, 2015 23:47:29 GMT -8
Finally took some new photos of downtown Santa Monica - unfortunately on a cloudy day. Left and right of the steps up from 4th and Colorado A triptych west of the terminus station tracks from 5th And looking back east. The 11th crossing is closed for reconstruction. OCS work at 14th. The 17th Street station And the curve to private right-of-way at 17th, showing details of span-wire-supported catenary.
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Post by johanragle on Mar 19, 2015 8:01:59 GMT -8
Spotted an interesting glitch at 7th/Metro Center station today. Operator must have toggled one of the new options by accident - train sadly turned out to be a Blue Line bound for Long Beach instead.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 19, 2015 10:49:55 GMT -8
Bundy? Someone perhaps programmed the Phase 2 stations.
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Post by darrell on Mar 19, 2015 10:59:44 GMT -8
Better photo of the catenary across 17th ...
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 19, 2015 11:23:49 GMT -8
While the delaying of the construction has been impacting the residents' and commuters' lives negatively -- an extra year of construction due to delays makes a big difference in impacting the neighborhoods -- there was a milestone today: possibly the first signalized intersection -- Exposition Blvd and Bagley Ave: Annoyingly, pedestrians need to push the button to request a signal, which has been the LADOT norm. So, pedestrians get delayed every time in favor of the vehicles unless someone was there before them to push the button.
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Post by johanragle on Mar 19, 2015 12:05:30 GMT -8
That is a major nuisance. IMO, every intersection with a Metro Rail station should have automatic pedestrian priority. Isn't that kind of the point of building public transit in the first place - getting people out of their cars and on their feet?
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f ron
Full Member
Posts: 222
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Post by f ron on Mar 19, 2015 12:31:52 GMT -8
That is a major nuisance. IMO, every intersection with a Metro Rail station should have automatic pedestrian priority. Isn't that kind of the point of building public transit in the first place - getting people out of their cars and on their feet? It's not just the station locations where pedestrian priority is screwed it's intersections like Bagley, Overland, et. al.. Once the tracks are designed to cross the road a whole series of requirements kick in that make life miserable for pedestrians as well as the neighborhoods which share their space.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 23, 2015 11:42:50 GMT -8
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 23, 2015 11:53:59 GMT -8
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Post by jamesinclair on Mar 23, 2015 13:45:53 GMT -8
That is a major nuisance. IMO, every intersection with a Metro Rail station should have automatic pedestrian priority. Isn't that kind of the point of building public transit in the first place - getting people out of their cars and on their feet? One would think, but the priority seems to be cars > rail > other cars > more cars > pedestrians > any car left behind > bicycles Screw the fact that every person walking off a train is a pedestrian, heavens forbid a driver be delayed!
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f ron
Full Member
Posts: 222
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Post by f ron on Mar 23, 2015 14:56:54 GMT -8
That is a major nuisance. IMO, every intersection with a Metro Rail station should have automatic pedestrian priority. Isn't that kind of the point of building public transit in the first place - getting people out of their cars and on their feet? One would think, but the priority seems to be cars > rail > other cars > more cars > pedestrians > any car left behind > bicycles Screw the fact that every person walking off a train is a pedestrian, heavens forbid a driver be delayed! I think you've pretty much nailed the hierarchy of deference for machines over people in this town!
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Post by johanragle on Mar 24, 2015 5:45:38 GMT -8
Maybe a campaign mocking LADOT's unofficial No Car Left Behind policies is in order?
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 25, 2015 11:20:36 GMT -8
Curious train signal facing the westbound track on the pole at the right. I wonder what it is for. They don't have them in Phase 1: The signal is currently yellow. I am guessing yellow means gates up, green gates down, and red malfunction.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 30, 2015 10:59:54 GMT -8
I have warned many times that this would happen but no one listened:
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Post by joshuanickel on Mar 30, 2015 13:07:44 GMT -8
I have warned many times that this would happen but no one listened: When they reinstall it, they will most likely reface the sign with the new black ones they have been putting up. Example:
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 30, 2015 13:45:34 GMT -8
Still no word on the project delay as of this Thursday's board meeting, even though they were required to do so at 90% completion. I expect that the delays are serious and the line could be delayed well into the summer of 2016.
Meanwhile, a ridiculous motion. I hope it never goes through:
Director Clark Motion
The Expo Construction Authority goes on record in support of the City of Culver City's request to Metro regarding future signage to reflect "Via Culver City" on all Expo Line train headsigns, station signs, and way-finding signs.
Really??
This is pretty ridiculous. It would clutter the signage system and there is no reason to mention intermediate cities along the line. Imagine the Foothill Extension mentioning every city along the line.
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Post by Philip on Mar 30, 2015 15:59:39 GMT -8
Still no word on the project delay as of this Thursday's board meeting, even though they were required to do so at 90% completion. I expect that the delays are serious and the line could be delayed well into the summer of 2016. Until something gets posted on the Source or gets reported from one of the board meetings, I see no reason to assume the line to be seriously delayed. The only thing we know of definitely from Metro documents is the delay to the maintenance facility, which still has a chance of being mitigated. I check Dwight's photos every week (as I'm sure many of us do) - the line appears to be coming along fine. Every week another small milestone is achieved - parts of the bike path are beginning to appear, most (if not all) of the K-Rail in Santa Monica is gone, and the OCS is nearly finished. The only areas that appear in need of most work are West L.A. (between Sepulveda and Centinela) and DTSM from 7th Street to 4th, but even these should be just about done in time for July (barring any other major delays, of which so far there have been officially none). I've also been biking through the area in the last few weeks - there's certainly work to be done (station finishes, landscaping, pylon installation, TAP machines, and so forth), but none of it appears insurmountable in the short-term. So until Metro says otherwise, I think we're in the clear.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 30, 2015 16:07:42 GMT -8
Still no word on the project delay as of this Thursday's board meeting, even though they were required to do so at 90% completion. I expect that the delays are serious and the line could be delayed well into the summer of 2016. Until something gets posted on the Source or gets reported from one of the board meetings, I see no reason to assume the line to be seriously delayed. The only thing we know of definitely from Metro documents is the delay to the maintenance facility, which still has a chance of being mitigated. "Construction delays on both the mainline and Operations and Maintenance Facility have impacted the Substantial Completion date by several moths. At this point, the planned Revenue Operations Date is not impacted."I am guessing, by the planned ROD, they are referring to the Metro March 2016 date, not the December 2015 date in the Skanska/Rados contract. www.buildexpo.org/wp-content/uploads/ITEM-6a-APRIL-2-2015.pdf
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Post by masonite on Mar 30, 2015 16:28:05 GMT -8
Still no word on the project delay as of this Thursday's board meeting, even though they were required to do so at 90% completion. I expect that the delays are serious and the line could be delayed well into the summer of 2016. Meanwhile, a ridiculous motion. I hope it never goes through: Director Clark Motion
The Expo Construction Authority goes on record in support of the City of Culver City's request to Metro regarding future signage to reflect "Via Culver City" on all Expo Line train headsigns, station signs, and way-finding signs.Really?? This is pretty ridiculous. It would clutter the signage system and there is no reason to mention intermediate cities along the line. Imagine the Foothill Extension mentioning every city along the line. I don't think they are at 90% completion yet. From the public presentations last month it was listed as 85%. There might be a lag of a week or two in that number. Metro's Construction Committee has notes on substantial completion not being expected until Nov. If true, you can add about 6 months to that and get a May 2016 opening, but all speculation for now.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 31, 2015 10:28:14 GMT -8
Tree massacre at Bagley Ave and Exposition Blvd: At least five mature trees were cut in front of the apartment building at the southwestern corner. I don't know if this was initiated by DWP or the owner of the building. These mature trees are great shade trees and without them you are under the scorching Southern California sun.
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Post by bzcat on Mar 31, 2015 13:41:43 GMT -8
Looks like the root system of the tree is starting to intrude into the foundation of the apartment building. You can see they had to move the building utilities to somewhere else already so I'm sure this is a not Expo related. Those trees are planted way too close to the building.
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Post by johanragle on Mar 31, 2015 15:06:13 GMT -8
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Post by culvercitylocke on Mar 31, 2015 15:52:11 GMT -8
Tree massacre at Bagley Ave and Exposition Blvd: At least five mature trees were cut in front of the apartment building at the southwestern corner. I don't know if this was initiated by DWP or the owner of the building. These mature trees are great shade trees and without them you are under the scorching Southern California sun. Two or three years ago they cut down trees in the median of Venice east of national, but the median there never changed. Seems bizarre in retrospect
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 31, 2015 17:55:09 GMT -8
It's likely that this is being done by the Expo Authority and/or City of Los Angeles, who are worried that the roots (marked red in the photo) will lift off the new sidewalk that was poured recently. It's sad to see five mature trees cut.
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Post by darrell on Apr 1, 2015 11:14:49 GMT -8
From the Santa Monica Mirror today, timely as Expo begins train testing next week: Rendering by Chi Spurger A rendering of the 360º loop unveiled for the end of the Expo Line extension to Santa Monica. Santa Monica, April Fools Expo Line To End In Santa Monica With 360° LoopApril Fool's 2015! Posted Apr. 1, 2015, 9:23 am Mirror Staff By Alf Abet, Assembled Press Noting that some of the excitement over the Expo Line coming to Santa Monica has receded as construction and related street closings continue, officials today announced that the rail line will conclude in a thrilling 360 degree “Super Loop” just before the train pulls into our city’s station. The new feature is an attempt to boost interest in use of the rail line and to compete with other excitement-stirring California attractions such as Magic Mountain and tapings of “Jeopardy.” Expo spokeswoman Casey Jones said that there were still “some bugs” to work out, such as making sure that “while the spin in the loop is pulling heavy G’s” passengers don’t lose contact with their phones, purses, and false teeth. While seat belts and chest straps will be required during the last quarter mile of the rail line into our city, a helpful video will give passengers all the information they need to prevent falling onto the ceiling of their rail car. Expo Line is already working on publicity for the new feature, and has begun handing out “Santa Monica is Loopy!” bumper stickers at area liquor stores and medical pot outlets.
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