Exposition Light Rail Line Project Developments

[kenalpern]

I wish I did have contacts, and I hope someone else on this Board might do so. I think we need to give Metro and its contractors the benefit of good technology when they do the job right. Yes, we excoriated Metro and Tutor-Saliba (and rightfully so!) on their Red Line screwups...but we've LEARNED something from that experience, darn it...as evidenced by the successful last tunnelling of the Red Line to the Valley and the Eastside Gold Line experiences.

Metro needs to be able to pull out of its previous reputation as a bumbler and a screwup when it comes to construction projects...and I think there are folks at Metro in charge of P.R. and media/communications who can help with this and other feats of engineering. Bart or anyone else...any thoughts on this?

By the way, this is another powerful argument why having rail lines down streets (despite how beneficial they can be) are much more difficult to construct than a publicly-owned ROW.

[wad]

whitmanlam said:

Of course, it won't make much difference as...... the Sony Studio management has talked about relocating to Albuqurque, New Mexico !!!

Albuquerque damn near took the Isotopes from Springfield, too.

[bobdavis]

I was downtown earlier this week and went down Flower St. to see what was happening on the Expo project. Looks like some preliminary work was done and an asphalt patch put down, but not much current activity. Anything happening further down the line, i.e. around the bend and past USC?

[bluelineshawn]

USC has decided against funding the red brick redesign of the expo stations near campus. Per the monthly expo status report minutes:

Samantha Bricker handed out a letter to Board Members received last week from USC. Mr. Thorpe stated that Authority staff worked very closely with USC, but the ultimate cost was more than USC had anticipated and advised the Authority they were no longer interested in continuing to pursue the alternative station designs.

[erict]

Another interesting item from that progress report: "and the second issue pertained to sufficient egress at the 7th Street/Metro stop given the anticipated increased use from both the Expo Line and the Blue Line." They are finally looking at the enormous problem that two rail lines using an already crowded station 7th/Metro station is going to cause. The "real" solution is the DTC.

[bluelineshawn]

erict said:

Another interesting item from that progress report: "and the second issue pertained to sufficient egress at the 7th Street/Metro stop given the anticipated increased use from both the Expo Line and the Blue Line." They are finally looking at the enormous problem that two rail lines using an already crowded station 7th/Metro station is going to cause. The "real" solution is the DTC.

We will have crowding, but I don't think that will be a big problem. Once pax leave the train they are all gone within a minute or two. Definitely before the next train pulls in. We'll have more steady crowding, but not really any higher levels than now.

OTOH where we will have significantly MORE CROWDING is on the red line platform. I don't know the exact percentage, but the majority of blue line pax that get off at 7th/metro transfer to the red (NoHo) line. At rush hour the blue line runs at almost twice the headway of the red line and every once in a while two train loads of blue line pax will make it to the platform before the first NoHo train pulls in. Now with Expo that could be 3 or maybe even 4 train loads. Couple that with the people waiting for the purple line and union station trains and we could be looking at some serious crowding.

And now that I've thought about it the 7th/metro blue line platform can get pretty crowded when there's a delay. It will therefore be much more crowded when Expo is in the mix.

I imagine what will be done is to have some sort of contingency for closing both the red/purple and blue/expo platforms when dangerous crowding conditions exist. That and running shorter headways for the red/purple lines.

[roadtrainer]

Construction update: ;D

Somebody take a ride! Go south on Flower st. The left side of the street the crews are taring up the curb and putting down huge blocks of concrete......I followed the R.O.W. and got over by La Cieniga and saw crews putting together the rebar for the bridge supports.....There was several bridge rebar supports there already....Could it be the fabrication point for all the bridge (flyover/stations) for the entire line? I also saw 3or 4 big wooden forms nailed up.... this could be the foundation for the elevated structure, MORE REPORTS TO FOLLOW!
Sincerely The Roadtrainer

P.S. to Dr. Alpern: read your replys on the times bottleneck--good answers! The guy from N.Y.C. made a good point on them guys getting the cash for the projects---maybe there is a lesson there

[kenalpern]

Thanks for the kind words, roadtrainer. When L.A. rises up and demands that the City, county, state and federal governments give it its fair share of transportation funding and projects, then it will receive the same attention and priority that N.Y.C. gets.

[erict]

OTOH where we will have significantly MORE CROWDING is on the red line platform.

From my experience, all of 7th street metro can be crowded- both the blue line platforms and the red line - during rush hour. Once Expo, Blue and Red co-exist the strain will be felt. Even with the DTC, 7th street Metro could be nearly as busy as Union Station. Imagine Red, Blue, Expo and Gold lines all converging at one point. However, that will be a great day for mass transit in Los Angeles, when it happens.

[bluelineshawn]

roadtrainer said:

Construction update: ;D

Somebody take a ride! Go south on Flower st. The left side of the street the crews are taring up the curb and putting down huge blocks of concrete......I followed the R.O.W. and got over by La Cieniga and saw crews putting together the rebar for the bridge supports.....There was several bridge rebar supports there already....Could it be the fabrication point for all the bridge (flyover/stations) for the entire line? I also saw 3or 4 big wooden forms nailed up.... this could be the foundation for the elevated structure, MORE REPORTS TO FOLLOW!
Sincerely The Roadtrainer

I didn't see the work that you're describing on Flower. Most of what I saw was some sort of utlility replacement on the west side of the street. I saw the parking garage that they're building at LA Trade Tech right next to Flower. That's not what you saw is it?

I did see the start of the elevated portion between Jefferson and La Cienega. Cool to see some heavy construction at last!

[bluelineshawn]

erict said:

OTOH where we will have significantly MORE CROWDING is on the red line platform.

From my experience, all of 7th street metro can be crowded- both the blue line platforms and the red line - during rush hour. Once Expo, Blue and Red co-exist the strain will be felt. Even with the DTC, 7th street Metro could be nearly as busy as Union Station. Imagine Red, Blue, Expo and Gold lines all converging at one point. However, that will be a great day for mass transit in Los Angeles, when it happens.

Yeah, that will be cool to see. I wonder if they will look at expanding the station as part of the downtown connector? I don't know that needs to be done, but if they think that it might then that would be the time to do it. You have to think that they will at least explore installing additional entrances.

The blue line platform isn't especially busy in the morning rush. I mean, lots of people use it but they are all arriving and they exit to either the street or red line platform as soon as they arrive. In the afternoon rush the crowds trickle in from the street and arrive en mass from the red line. I only rode it for a couple of weeks, but a train always seemed to come well before the crowd became a worry.

The red line platform never seemed especially crowded when I rode it. It's crowded right in the middle between the staircases, but there's plenty of room to move around the ends of the platform.

[nickv]

Since the Downtown Connector may link directly to Union Station and the Metro Gold Line, riders from the Blue and Expo lines won't have to detrain at the 7th Street Metro station. Same is true for riders going the other way. This may help with the crowding.

Right now, people often mingle and crowd toward the center of the platforms on both levels with plenty of room on the sides as BlueLineShawn posted. This is what I see when I ride the Metro Rail on weekends. I also often see the same pattern on Metrolink train platforms during the weekend which I think causes Metrolink's cab car to be far less crowded than the other cars.

[roadtrainer]

I didn't see the work that you're describing on Flower. Most of what I saw was some sort of utility replacement on the west side of the street. I saw the parking garage that they're building at LA Trade Tech right next to Flower. That's not what you saw is it?

;D Dude the construction I saw was southbound Flower st. where it meets the old P.E. Right-A-Way@Exposition. The curb was being tore up right next to the freeway and these huge cement blocks were being put down on Flower St.
Sincerely The Roadtrainer

[Gokhan]

Heavy construction is starting tonight at 9 PM on July 17, 2007, with the drilling for the supports for the USC tunnel!

[LAofAnaheim]

Is it true the Expo LIne could be further delayed w/ the Governor & legislature's budget negotiations occuring this week? Do you have any contact information to get a hold of the governor's office or any people threatening the future of this very critical project?

[bluelineshawn]

USC tunnel?

[Tony Fernandez]

sodha said:

Is it true the Expo LIne could be further delayed w/ the Governor & legislature's budget negotiations occuring this week? Do you have any contact information to get a hold of the governor's office or any people threatening the future of this very critical project?

You need to look at the newsletter to see where to contact the people working on the budget.

[Gokhan]

From friends4expo.org/

News
7/15/07 – Action Alert: Governor's budget threatens Expo Line funding!

State budget negotiations threaten $314 million for Expo Line construction.

Please contact asap Governor Schwarzenegger (fax: [phone], or phone: [phone], or http://www.govmail.ca.gov), and also your state legislators (especially if they're Republicans), to oppose further cuts in public transit funding in the State budget.

Points

The Governor’s budget proposal would directly impact Metro’s ability to fund the Expo Line and other critical projects.
Westside traffic is intolerable, impacting our economy, environment, and quality of life. The Expo Line is already approved and beginning construction, a cost-effective solution that should be included in STIP allocation requests.
This is a Bait and Switch! Proposition 1B tranportation bond funding was promised for new projects, but would instead be used to balance the budget.
The Governor talks about fighting Global Warming, yet cuts to transit would do the opposite.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said about the new 2nd Avenue subway, "This is an investment in our future that we can't afford not to make." Governor Schwarzenegger should do no less.

Background

Current budget negotiations continue to threaten State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) funds. Specifically, the Republican Caucus continues to insist on additional cuts to the Public Transportation Account, putting at risk all transit and highway projects listed in the STIP, especially a critical $314 million allocation for the Expo Line phase 1 from Downtown L.A. to Culver City that's only now beginning construction.

The Administration, working closely with the California Transportation Commission, had removed only transit allocations from the CTC’s July 25-26, 2007 agenda while at the same time leaving all highway allocations in place on the same agenda. We have now learned that the allocation for the Exposition Light Rail project will be on the July agenda; however, the State budget must provide enough funds to public transit in order for the CTC to make these allocations.

[Gokhan]

Here is the Wikipedia link for the heavy-construction update and picture:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LACMTA_Expo_Line#Current_status

[kenalpern]

Here's a talking point we need to work with:

Just as the 405 HOV Lane was prioritized under the last round of CTC decision-making, the Expo Line will be its counterpart for the 10 freeway in that it will add to capacity of that corridor in a significant but cheaper fashion than the construction of a 10-freeway HOV Lane.

[Tony Fernandez]

I don't understand why people are allowing the money from Prop 1B to be used for transit operations. Didn't everyone figure that this was going to go for new projects? Hell if they were going to pay a bond with another bond, then we would have voted against it. Everyone know that it makes no sense. I'm surprised that the LA Times hasn't made a big deal about this, especially since this proposal would take away $300 million from Expo Phase I.

[masonite]

phattonez said:

I don't understand why people are allowing the money from Prop 1B to be used for transit operations. Didn't everyone figure that this was going to go for new projects? Hell if they were going to pay a bond with another bond, then we would have voted against it. Everyone know that it makes no sense. I'm surprised that the LA Times hasn't made a big deal about this, especially since this proposal would take away $300 million from Expo Phase I.

I am certainly pretty disillussioned myself as I had high hopes back in Nov. when the Dems took Congress, with higher gas prices here to stay, the environmental movement going mainstream, and we passed Prop 1B. Since then we have seen no momentum and the Governator has tried to cut public transit at every stop. Now even a project that was already under construction (Expo Phase I) is in danger of being cutoff. The Mayor has been dramatically weakened. The Feds haven't turned over the ban on the Wilshire subway yet. I expected by now that we would have studies done on the major new projects and have a Long Range Plan in place and an idea of how we would spend some of that $1B Prop B money, but there has been none of that. Hopefully things will turn around soon. We are getting nowhere fast.

[mattapoisett]

From The LA Times Today:

Budget may ride on cuts in transit
By Evan Halper and Nancy Vogel, Times Staff Writer
10:37 PM PDT, July 19, 2007

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California lawmakers appeared to be closing in on a spending plan late Thursday that would divert roughly $1 billion away from mass transit, forcing Los Angeles to put off plans for extending parts of the Expo light rail line and widening some freeways.

The money, most of which comes from a sales tax on gasoline paid by drivers, would instead be used to help erase a multibillion-dollar deficit that the state has been carrying for years. The decision to divert the funds came as part of a deal brokered by legislative leaders in an effort to lift a three-week budget impasse.

The compromise spending plan would also cut $124 million in welfare payments to the elderly and disabled and scale back drug treatment programs for prisoners. It includes multimillion-dollar tax breaks for the film industry and other businesses.

Most of the moves come at the insistence of GOP lawmakers, who have been blocking passage of a budget until more cuts were made.

"When it comes to the question of balancing a budget, tough decisions are necessarily made," said Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles. "This is a compromise to get a budget done, rather than wreak havoc on the state by not having budget."

Although the cuts may go far enough to draw the votes of GOP members in the Assembly, the Senate Republican caucus continues to hold out for more. Senate Leader Don Perata, D-Oakland, is vowing not to make additional concessions, leaving the odds of a budget being adopted within the week uncertain. The Legislature, which was due to adjourn Friday for a monthlong summer recess, was preparing to vote on the budget late Thursday night or early Friday.

Democrats said they agreed to the big cut to transit funding in an effort to avoid having to take money away from schools and health-care programs. Republicans justified the cut by noting that state transportation funding will continue to increase overall.

The money that will be used to balance the budget will be siphoned from a windfall from the sales tax on gasoline generated by soaring prices at the pump. Even after the windfall is diverted, Republicans say, there still will be funds to increase spending on transportation above what it was last year.

But local transportation officials said the tax was created specifically to fund transportation projects. They characterized the cut as a major setback, warning that certain projects could get delayed for years.

Among them is the Expo Line light rail extension that would connect Culver City to Santa Monica, a project that local officials have envisioned for decades. The city of Santa Monica has already purchased land for a station.

Other projects that would be delayed include widening Interstate 5, in part along the Orange County line, where the daily bottlenecking has become legendary. A project that would complete the gap in carpool lanes on the San Bernardino Freeway in the eastern San Gabriel Valley is also threatened.

The budget deal will impart a "ripple effect through our entire long-range plan," said David Yale, the MTA's deputy executive director for regional programming.

"It really puts us in a bad situation with these new projects that we were about to deliver," Yale said.

Los Angeles County alone stands to lose $336 million.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky accused state officials of breaking their promise to voters, who approved $19.9 billion in borrowing for transportation projects in November. He said the county would have to use its share of the money to cover what is lost in this budget agreement, instead of on the new projects that were pitched to voters.

"This is a classic bait and switch operation coming out of Sacramento," Yaroslavsky said. "It's breaking faith with the people of California."

For Senate Republicans, however, the cuts in the compromise budget plan moving through the Assembly aren't deep enough. Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine said Thursday night that his caucus would continue to block passage of a budget until the Democrats agree to more spending reductions.

He said the proposal that was poised to come before the Assembly would still leave the state on a path toward spending billions more than it is expected to receive in revenue in future years.

"We are just trying to get them to slow down the growth of some of these programs," Ackerman said. "They want to keep spending even though they don't have the money to do it."

But Perata said he was through negotiating. He said he would put up for a vote in the Senate on Friday a budget with the compromises Democrats already have made.

"We have gone way beyond where I ever thought we would go as Democrats," Perata said. "This is not a budget I would put on my highlight reel. They could. They could go home and have a freaking parade."

Perata said it was unlikely that Senate Democrats would sign off on the tax breaks that were part of the budget plan Assembly members were preparing to vote on Thursday night. He also criticized Republicans for pushing to relax state environmental regulations on builders as part of the spending negotiations, saying such proposals should be vetted through the normal legislative process, not rushed into law as part of a budget deal.

Ackerman said onerous tax laws and overly aggressive enforcement of environmental regulations are hurting the economy "and should be dealt with now."

Democrats are eager, however, to avoid a prolonged budget stalemate. In February they will ask voters to relax term limits. Approval of the ballot measure would allow lawmakers to extend the length of their terms in either the Assembly or the Senate.

It would permit Perata, who under current law must leave office next year, to remain in power several years longer. It would do the same for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.

But Ackerman has more immediate problems. His hold on power as Republican leader is tenuous. Other caucus members have criticized him in the past as being too willing to make deals with Democrats. There have been attempts to remove him from his post.

Perata suggested it may take involvement by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to break the logjam. The governor so far has remained largely removed from the budget negotiations, a departure from recent years. Most of his spending priorities were reflected in the budget blueprint that Democrats adopted last month.

"The governor has to get in the game," Perata said. "These are Republicans. They are holding up the state."

Times staff writer Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.

[kenalpern]

Clearly, the Governor and the GOP are to be taken to task (if not downright excoriated and despised) for their slap in the face to the voters who so overwhelmingly approved Propositions 1A and 1B. Similarly, the Democratic leaders of the Legislature are to be taken to task (if not downright excoriated and despised) for letting this happen because they are downright OWNED by various lobbies in Sacramento--in particular, the education lobby.

So long as transportation, including and especially mass transit, is the first to be dismissed as an afterthought in the budget process, no politician in Sacramento can honestly claim to be concerned about our economy, our environment and our quality of life.

[kenalpern]

Clearly, the Governor and the GOP are to be taken to task (if not downright excoriated and despised) for their slap in the face to the voters who so overwhelmingly approved Propositions 1A and 1B. Similarly, the Democratic leaders of the Legislature are to be taken to task (if not downright excoriated and despised) for letting this happen because they are downright OWNED by various lobbies in Sacramento--in particular, the education lobby.

So long as transportation, including and especially mass transit, is the first to be dismissed as an afterthought in the budget process, no politician in Sacramento can honestly claim to be concerned about our economy, our environment and our quality of life.

[kingsfan]

You are absolutely correct, Ken. Everyone in Sacramento deserves to be run out of town.

There are only two ways the Blue Line will get built: increase taxes or cut spending somewhere else in the budget. Republicans won't allow the former and Democrats won't allow the latter.

The problem is voters continue to think there is a third way: someone else will pay for it. They think the Feds will give California billions, which they won't and should not. The voters continue to think the "rich" should pay, which they won't because they simply move to Nevada or Arizona. What you are seeing is a product of the voters unwillingness to face the fact that nothing good is for free.

Personally I think there is far too much waste in Sacramento and Los Angeles for a tax increase to be needed, but I do respect the politician who stands up and says transit is a necessity and we have got to increase taxes to pay for it. What I really dislike are the cowards like our Mayor who sees everything as an entitlement and thinks cash comes from thin air.

[Gokhan]

Well, if this gets approved by the senate -- and looks like it's going to happen -- the Expo Line may go in havoc. Expo authority claimed to be unable to find only $5 million for the USC station and how are they going to find $315 now? Perhaps Metro can cut down on the freeway improvements as retaliation to Sacramento.

[Gokhan]

I am quoting this from old Metro news (#063) in April 2006:

"The allotment of these state dollars will free up transportation monies from the previously established Exposition Line budget that will fund numerous carpool lane segments such as those nearing construction on State Route 60 in the San Gabriel Valley and the Golden State and Santa Ana segments of Interstate 5 in the San Fernando Valley and Gateway Cities areas, respectively. The freed up funds could also possibly partially fund future planned projects such as transit projects and/or carpool lanes on the I-5 Freeway from Route 170 to the 134 Freeway, the northbound I-405 Freeway over the Sepulveda Pass, and the I-10 Freeway from Puente to Citrus or other transportation improvements."

Now with the state budget plan eliminating the $315 million, can Expo go to the previous budget, or at least threaten to do so, that funded this amount from local sources (Proposition C)? Perhaps this can teach Sacramento a lesson, who are merely after votes by claiming to close the budget deficit.

[LAofAnaheim]

So..in layman terms, is the current construction on Expo line from downtown to Culver City on hold?

[Gokhan]

They will have to find the money from a different source -- most likely the bond funds, which were actually supposed to go into Phase 2. This means they will have a harder time to find money for Phase 2.

If it comes to worse, the line will only be built to Vermont Ave.