Post by brady12 on Jul 27, 2019 8:24:58 GMT -8
Does anyone have a clue what the final intention of the ESFV line is? It seems to me that a slow running line with no connection other than a forced transfer, is a waste of sorts.
Because let’s be honest, with the limited amounts of funding and the high costs of construction and many pivotal projects that are needed to be built. LA Metro has to choose wisely.
With that being said it would seem to be an ESFV line AS CURRENTLY CONSTITUTED is a waste of resources. It’s slow. It’s street running. Part of its route is redundant cause of the Sepulveda line running below it. And most of all without the Orange Line having been converted to LRT, It’s only connection to other rail is a FORCED transfer. So essentially ESFV just functions as a glorified neighborhood street car.
I mean there are many possibilities - One would be accelerating the orange line conversion so that the ESFV could be turned eastward at the orange line and (upon the OL conversion to LRT) if it continued east (connecting to the Red Line) and eventually heading Southeast in a direction that would connect it with a future Northern extension of the WSAB line. But again that seems so far off in the distance without another funding mechanism.
Now to me the best idea is this: With the Sepulveda Line now expected to reach all the way to the Van Nuys MetroLink station - the Sepulveda HRT is essentially covering 2.5 of the 8.5 mile ESFV line route. If you took the $1.5B of the funds for the ESFV line and bypass the idea of building a whole new line (a 14 station, painfully slow, at grade LRT) you instead use that money to extend the Sepulveda HRT approximately 2 miles - So now you have a majority of the ESFV route (or at least half of it) covered with a FASTER mode and best of all in connects as one cohesive line to the Sepulveda line.
And I’m rambling a bit here but doesn’t Metro’s plans for the Valley seem like a jumbled mess of clutter. You have a BRT kind, a Heavy rail line, a glorified streetcar as LRT and NONE of them connect to another line of the same mode. So you have forced transfers everywhere. And frankly there are so many other possibilities for connections in the Valley. There is no hanging fruit of a $1B extension of the red line to Bob Hope airport that would connect with MetroLink.
If the Sepulveda line is to go with HRT 3 as an option, I would guess that Metro could extend the red line North to Burbank Airport MetroLink and extend Sepulveda Line via elevated track above MetroLink tracks, so the two lines connect. That would do wonders for the Valley. OR you could just extend the red line WEST from No.Hollywood station along the orange line route and connect it with the Sepulveda line. Or as I’ve said before, you make the Sepulveda line a LRT subway so it connects as one line to ESFV. Or, also as I’ve said before you eliminate ESFV line and extend Sepulveda line north. I could go on and on and on.
I don’t know there are so many different possibilities. And yes I know funding plays a big role in this. But let’s think outside the box. What does everyone think.
Because let’s be honest, with the limited amounts of funding and the high costs of construction and many pivotal projects that are needed to be built. LA Metro has to choose wisely.
With that being said it would seem to be an ESFV line AS CURRENTLY CONSTITUTED is a waste of resources. It’s slow. It’s street running. Part of its route is redundant cause of the Sepulveda line running below it. And most of all without the Orange Line having been converted to LRT, It’s only connection to other rail is a FORCED transfer. So essentially ESFV just functions as a glorified neighborhood street car.
I mean there are many possibilities - One would be accelerating the orange line conversion so that the ESFV could be turned eastward at the orange line and (upon the OL conversion to LRT) if it continued east (connecting to the Red Line) and eventually heading Southeast in a direction that would connect it with a future Northern extension of the WSAB line. But again that seems so far off in the distance without another funding mechanism.
Now to me the best idea is this: With the Sepulveda Line now expected to reach all the way to the Van Nuys MetroLink station - the Sepulveda HRT is essentially covering 2.5 of the 8.5 mile ESFV line route. If you took the $1.5B of the funds for the ESFV line and bypass the idea of building a whole new line (a 14 station, painfully slow, at grade LRT) you instead use that money to extend the Sepulveda HRT approximately 2 miles - So now you have a majority of the ESFV route (or at least half of it) covered with a FASTER mode and best of all in connects as one cohesive line to the Sepulveda line.
And I’m rambling a bit here but doesn’t Metro’s plans for the Valley seem like a jumbled mess of clutter. You have a BRT kind, a Heavy rail line, a glorified streetcar as LRT and NONE of them connect to another line of the same mode. So you have forced transfers everywhere. And frankly there are so many other possibilities for connections in the Valley. There is no hanging fruit of a $1B extension of the red line to Bob Hope airport that would connect with MetroLink.
If the Sepulveda line is to go with HRT 3 as an option, I would guess that Metro could extend the red line North to Burbank Airport MetroLink and extend Sepulveda Line via elevated track above MetroLink tracks, so the two lines connect. That would do wonders for the Valley. OR you could just extend the red line WEST from No.Hollywood station along the orange line route and connect it with the Sepulveda line. Or as I’ve said before, you make the Sepulveda line a LRT subway so it connects as one line to ESFV. Or, also as I’ve said before you eliminate ESFV line and extend Sepulveda line north. I could go on and on and on.
I don’t know there are so many different possibilities. And yes I know funding plays a big role in this. But let’s think outside the box. What does everyone think.
