|
Post by rubbertoe on Aug 15, 2012 12:44:21 GMT -8
Just received an e-mail from Metro that underground utility relocation will start on Monday, and continue for 1 year. Mostly around the 3 new stations.
RT
|
|
|
Post by bobdavis on Aug 15, 2012 14:12:05 GMT -8
I just received the same e-mail. It means we now have three rail transit projects going on at once here in LA Metro country. A little over 60 years ago, I was an 11 year old boy, watching a terrible machine ripping the Pacific Electric rails out of Olive Ave. in Monrovia. Who would have believed that now we have construction crews working on restoring electric railway service to my old home town, and other crews working on a connecting line downtown (something the PE never had between 6th & Main and Subway Terminal.)
|
|
|
Post by LAofAnaheim on Aug 15, 2012 15:02:25 GMT -8
I just received the same e-mail. It means we now have three rail transit projects going on at once here in LA Metro country. A little over 60 years ago, I was an 11 year old boy, watching a terrible machine ripping the Pacific Electric rails out of Olive Ave. in Monrovia. Who would have believed that now we have construction crews working on restoring electric railway service to my old home town, and other crews working on a connecting line downtown (something the PE never had between 6th & Main and Subway Terminal.) We actually have 4 lines under active construction with utility relocation work happening on Crenshaw Line right now as well. So beginning Monday, we have the Foothill Gold Line, Expo Phase II, Crenshaw Line and Regional Connector under construction. Possibly soon...I wouldn't be surprised if we see utility relocation for the westside subway extension this November. Imagine LA without Antonio Villairaigosa and Measure R............
|
|
|
Post by rubbertoe on Aug 15, 2012 15:05:34 GMT -8
What would we possibly do with our spare time? RT
|
|
|
Post by masonite on Aug 15, 2012 15:25:02 GMT -8
I just received the same e-mail. It means we now have three rail transit projects going on at once here in LA Metro country. A little over 60 years ago, I was an 11 year old boy, watching a terrible machine ripping the Pacific Electric rails out of Olive Ave. in Monrovia. Who would have believed that now we have construction crews working on restoring electric railway service to my old home town, and other crews working on a connecting line downtown (something the PE never had between 6th & Main and Subway Terminal.) That is a long wait for sure.
|
|
|
Post by gatewaygent on Aug 15, 2012 19:35:26 GMT -8
Goodness, glory be! I received that same e-mail as well! So does that mean that next year we can look forward to five (5) simultaneous projects going on? Is there even a precedent for this?
|
|
|
Post by jamesinclair on Aug 16, 2012 0:20:29 GMT -8
Imagine LA without Antonio Villairaigosa and Measure R............ Villairaigosa 2016!
|
|
|
Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Aug 21, 2012 8:51:43 GMT -8
Maybe I'm reading this incorrectly, but can anyone answer this:
When the downtown connector is completed, will trains go from Santa Monica to Union Station, or will they only make it to Little Tokyo on their way east?
|
|
|
Post by masonite on Aug 21, 2012 9:20:43 GMT -8
Maybe I'm reading this incorrectly, but can anyone answer this: When the downtown connector is completed, will trains go from Santa Monica to Union Station, or will they only make it to Little Tokyo on their way east? Little Tokyo.
|
|
|
Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Aug 21, 2012 12:54:45 GMT -8
So a "one seat ride" to Union Station is still impossible.
Somehow, I thought that was one of the selling points. There is no difference for someone living in Santa Monica once this is completed, and it will be worse for those in East Los Angeles: To get to the main train station they have to transfer to another train in downtown to make the last leg of the journey. Brilliant.
isn't the point of a central station to have all the trains "centrally" connected? To have a major train come within a few thousand yards of the station, but not stop there, is more than a little problematic.
It's poor planning. Really. Poor. Planning.
|
|
|
Post by masonite on Aug 21, 2012 13:03:19 GMT -8
So a "one seat ride" to Union Station is still impossible. Somehow, I thought that was one of the selling points. There is no difference for someone living in Santa Monica once this is completed, and it will be worse for those in East Los Angeles: To get to the main train station they have to transfer to another train in downtown to make the last leg of the journey. Brilliant. It will be better for East LA residents to be able to go to the heart of downtown without a transfer vs. just Union Station which is on the edge of Downtown. Sure they can transfer to the Red/Purple Line now, but that involves a long walk at Union Station. Also, it is better for SM residents too as they can go throughout Downtown in one ride. Even for someone going from SM to Pasadena, now they would have to transfer at 7th Street and then again at Union Station with a long walk there. With the Connector they can make a relatively easy switch at Little Tokyo. For those who go from SM to East LA, it is a huge win as it will involve no transfers vs. 2 now.
|
|
|
Post by LAofAnaheim on Aug 21, 2012 13:15:24 GMT -8
So a "one seat ride" to Union Station is still impossible. Somehow, I thought that was one of the selling points. There is no difference for someone living in Santa Monica once this is completed, and it will be worse for those in East Los Angeles: To get to the main train station they have to transfer to another train in downtown to make the last leg of the journey. Brilliant. isn't the point of a central station to have all the trains "centrally" connected? To have a major train come within a few thousand yards of the station, but not stop there, is more than a little problematic. It's poor planning. Really. Poor. Planning. Alexis, the "one seat ride" is somebody going from Santa Monica to East LA. Now, some will argue that LA's main station could be considered "7th street/Metro Center" station, as that is where the Red, Purple, Blue, Expo and Gold Lines will connect; plus, its more centrally located in downtown LA unlike Union Station which is on the edge. Plus, for people coming from Santa Monica, if they want to go to Union Station, they can continue to transfer to the Red/Purple Line; but I forsee most of the riders want to go into the heart of downtown LA, which is 7th street station and eventually Bunker Hill station and 2nd/Broadway station.
|
|
|
Post by Philip on Aug 21, 2012 13:35:17 GMT -8
Not much to add that the others haven't already pointed out.
The fact is Union Station may be a huge transit hub for commuters, but for L.A. residents, it's more important that all the trains stop Downtown instead. Tying Union Station into the Santa Monica-East L.A. route would be nice, but not having it is still fine. Plus, it speeds up the east-west route.
And as it was pointed out elsewhere, the Long Beach-Pasadena and Santa Monica-East L.A. designations are *not* iron-clad indications of what service will be like; it was merely studied this way in the environmental documents.
In reality, when the connector opens, it's likely that trains will operate on many different routes (Santa Monica-Pasadena, East L.A.-Long Beach, etc.). Though this will involve some tweaking of the line designations, perhaps through the use of Letters or Numbers instead of colors.
So a "one seat ride" to Union Station (from Santa Monica) is still very possible.
|
|
|
Post by bluelineshawn on Aug 21, 2012 17:01:59 GMT -8
Not much to add that the others haven't already pointed out. The fact is Union Station may be a huge transit hub for commuters, but for L.A. residents, it's more important that all the trains stop Downtown instead. Tying Union Station into the Santa Monica-East L.A. route would be nice, but not having it is still fine. Plus, it speeds up the east-west route. And as it was pointed out elsewhere, the Long Beach-Pasadena and Santa Monica-East L.A. designations are *not* iron-clad indications of what service will be like; it was merely studied this way in the environmental documents. In reality, when the connector opens, it's likely that trains will operate on many different routes (Santa Monica-Pasadena, East L.A.-Long Beach, etc.). Though this will involve some tweaking of the line designations, perhaps through the use of Letters or Numbers instead of colors. So a "one seat ride" to Union Station (from Santa Monica) is still very possible. Metro's Bruce Shelburne has been pretty clear that the alignment will very likely be north/south and east/west. And either way they will NOT be sending trains along the same line to multiple terminals. If it ends up east/west there will not be trains from Santa Monica that go to union station.
|
|
|
Post by jdrcrasher on Aug 21, 2012 21:01:13 GMT -8
Oh come on, it's not THAT big of a deal. It's just ONE transfer for SaMo commuters at any of the DTLA stations the future Gold and Blue Lines share. And just wait, once that area is developed (Park 101, Block 8, Budokan, Nikkei, etc.), it'll be worth walking the last 2500 or so feet to Union station.
Not the best, sure. But better than the temporary TWO transfers that will await SaMo riders at 7th St Metro headed to East LA or the SGV in a few years, when Expo Phase II is finished.
|
|
|
Post by matthewb on Aug 22, 2012 8:15:20 GMT -8
Oh come on, it's not THAT big of a deal. It's just ONE transfer for SaMo commuters at any of the DTLA stations the future Gold and Blue Lines share. And just wait, once that area is developed (Park 101, Block 8, Budokan, Nikkei, etc.), it'll be worth walking the last 2500 or so feet to Union station. Not the best, sure. But better than the temporary TWO transfers that will await SaMo riders at 7th St Metro headed to East LA or the SGV in a few years, when Expo Phase II is finished. The only real argument I can come up with for having all branches having some trains that go to Union Station is to make transfers easier for people coming in on Metrolink. With the likely routing (Santa Monica to East LA and Long Beach to Pasadena), Metrolink customers could get easy transfers going towards Pasadena or Long Beach but not to Santa Monica or East LA. Given that most commuters should have a monthly pass, the extra transfer effects the time but not the price of the trip. In the end, I think it's fine to not have Santa Monica trains go to Union Station.
|
|
|
Post by bzcat on Aug 22, 2012 10:11:28 GMT -8
Oh come on, it's not THAT big of a deal. It's just ONE transfer for SaMo commuters at any of the DTLA stations the future Gold and Blue Lines share. And just wait, once that area is developed (Park 101, Block 8, Budokan, Nikkei, etc.), it'll be worth walking the last 2500 or so feet to Union station. Not the best, sure. But better than the temporary TWO transfers that will await SaMo riders at 7th St Metro headed to East LA or the SGV in a few years, when Expo Phase II is finished. The only real argument I can come up with for having all branches having some trains that go to Union Station is to make transfers easier for people coming in on Metrolink. With the likely routing (Santa Monica to East LA and Long Beach to Pasadena), Metrolink customers could get easy transfers going towards Pasadena or Long Beach but not to Santa Monica or East LA. Given that most commuters should have a monthly pass, the extra transfer effects the time but not the price of the trip. In the end, I think it's fine to not have Santa Monica trains go to Union Station. There is not a lot of Metrolink passengers transferring to Santa Monica right now and Big Blue Bus doesn't even accept Metrolink ticket for transfers. I don't foresee this will change even with Expo line going to Santa Monica and Downtown Connector eliminating the 2nd transfer. The big benefit for people commuting from OC/SGV/IE will probably come from Purple line extension to Mid Wilshire and Century City. Then it becomes possible to commute by rail to your job on the westside from the suburbs. Right now, Metrolink is only feasible if you work in Downtown.
|
|
|
Post by rubbertoe on Aug 28, 2012 15:09:03 GMT -8
The community meeting tomorrow night (8-29-12) is being live streamed for those interested. Wednesday, August 29, 2012 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Japanese American National Museum 369 E 1st St, Los Angeles Watch Online! www.ustream.tv/channel/community-update-meetingsRT
|
|
|
Post by usmc1401 on Sept 1, 2012 19:17:14 GMT -8
The Connector will allow trains to go to Union Station. Metro may not have plans for this now but it could change. The Gold line cars must be now trucked to the Blue, Green or Expo lines. The connector will stop the trucking to move cars.
|
|
|
Post by James Fujita on Sept 4, 2012 14:59:06 GMT -8
as things currently exist, you can have a one-seat ride to Union Station from Pasadena, East Los Angeles, Hollywood, Wilshire and North Hollywood (via the Gold, Purple and Red lines).
Build the Regional Connector, and East Los Angeles will lose the Union Station link, but Long Beach and the rest of the Blue Line will gain it.
Meanwhile, if Measure J passes, the Purple Line extension will get built on roughly the same timeline as the Regional Connector, give or take a few years/ lawsuits. That means Century City and Westwood will get one-seat rides to Union Station.
People coming in from Santa Monica on the Gold Line (just a guess on the colors) would have to transfer at some point to get to Union Station, but an awful lot of rail riders will still have direct links to Metrolink.
|
|
|
Post by gatewaygent on Sept 4, 2012 16:35:48 GMT -8
Expo Phase II will open before the Connector. So, if you need to go to Union Station (LAUS) from Santa Monica (SM), you'll have to transfer at 7th St./Metro and take the Subway to LAUS. If you're coming in from Riverside, San Bernardino, and OC on Metrolink and you need to go to SM, you'll have to transfer to the Subway and transfer again at 7th St./Metro. When the Connector opens, it'll create a one seat ride from SM to East L.A. Even though SM to LAUS has been tooted, if SM and Metrolink patrons get into and remain in the habit of the two (2) transfers, will they necessarily miss a SM to LAUS route?
|
|
|
Post by pithecanthropus on Sept 18, 2012 13:54:32 GMT -8
It will be better for East LA residents to be able to go to the heart of downtown without a transfer vs. just Union Station which is on the edge of Downtown. Sure they can transfer to the Red/Purple Line now, but that involves a long walk at Union Station. I've always thought Union Station was out of the way with regard to where most local transit riders to Downtown want to go. As the rail system now stands the real center of things seems to be 7th Street; east of Pershing Square I don't think I've ever seen well-filled trains or platforms on the Red/Purple Line, unless it's the time when all the Metrolink riders are heading to or from their commuter trains.
|
|
|
Post by pithecanthropus on Sept 18, 2012 14:04:15 GMT -8
Expo Phase II will open before the Connector. So, if you need to go to Union Station (LAUS) from Santa Monica (SM), you'll have to transfer at 7th St./Metro and take the Subway to LAUS. If you're coming in from Riverside, San Bernardino, and OC on Metrolink and you need to go to SM, you'll have to transfer to the Subway and transfer again at 7th St./Metro. When the Connector opens, it'll create a one seat ride from SM to East L.A. Even though SM to LAUS has been tooted, if SM and Metrolink patrons get into and remain in the habit of the two (2) transfers, will they necessarily miss a SM to LAUS route? Obviously we won't see the full potential of the Expo Line realized until the RC is up and running. I was hoping we could have trains starting out from each terminus with alternate destinations, although I can see that would make the junction far more complex and costly. It would be like a freeway interchange except for trains. And I'm no traffic engineer but I suspect the scheduling of trains under such a configuration might be mathematically impossible.
|
|
|
Post by pithecanthropus on Sept 18, 2012 14:14:15 GMT -8
isn't the point of a central station to have all the trains "centrally" connected? It would be if the main intercity rail station were already in the center of things, but as I noted LAUS is really a mile or two removed from the center of downtown proper. The only thing it's really near is Olvera Street and the Plaza, appealing primarily to tourists. It's also near Chinatown and Little Tokyo, but both those places already have their own transit stations. I think it's fairly typical of large West Coast cities to have their main train stations out of the way. They're never underground and centrally located as in Chicago or New York. San Diego would be the main exception here. Vancouver's VIA station is miles away from where I stayed facing the cruise harbor. And San Francisco's main station is in Oakland, across the bay.
|
|
|
Post by jdrcrasher on Sept 20, 2012 20:08:16 GMT -8
Manhattan has MULTIPLE "central" stations: Grand Central, Fulton St, 14th/Union Sq, Times Square, and, eventually, a newly, fixed up Calatrava WTC Hub station.
Do ALL of the subway lines there go to ALL of those stations, whether MTA or PATH?
This should be seriously considered before we start ramming all future rail lines into Downtown (much less one station); and even more so with LA, considering it's polycentric nature and commute patterns...
It's for this reason that, for example, connecting the 405/Sepulveda Pass Rail Corridor with the Purple or Expo Lines (not counting maintenance facilities, tho), which some have proposed, doesn't make all that much sense. Sure a lot of people are headed to Santa Monica, Miracle Mile, Downtown, and points beyond, but you have to believe a huge chunk are headed further south to LAX, and perhaps even the South Bay.
|
|
|
Post by gatewaygent on Sept 23, 2012 21:42:01 GMT -8
I picture our system with multiple "central" stations as the system is built out/matures. We have 7th/Metro, Vermont/Wilshire, and the Green/Blue transfer station so far. If/when the Crenshaw Line is built up to Hollywood, Hollywood/Highland will become a "central" station. If an extension is ever built from Pasadena to Glendale/Burbank, Memorial Park, maybe Lake Station would become a "central" station. The 405 Line will create a "central" stations on the Westside wherever it is that it crosses the Purple Line. Metro must be keeping in mind the limiting effects of a radial system, as evidenced by the Green Line; the future Crenshaw/405 Lines; and the Connector!
|
|
|
Post by LAofAnaheim on Sept 24, 2012 9:20:58 GMT -8
I picture our system with multiple "central" stations as the system is built out/matures. We have 7th/Metro, Vermont/Wilshire, and the Green/Blue transfer station so far. If/when the Crenshaw Line is built up to Hollywood, Hollywood/Highland will become a "central" station. If an extension is ever built from Pasadena to Glendale/Burbank, Memorial Park, maybe Lake Station would become a "central" station. The 405 Line will create a "central" stations on the Westside wherever it is that it crosses the Purple Line. Metro must be keeping in mind the limiting effects of a radial system, as evidenced by the Green Line; the future Crenshaw/405 Lines; and the Connector! Not all transfer stations will become "central stations", just the large ones that have more bus connections, maybe a park-n-ride, connections to other rail lines/airports and high frequency local rail connections. - 7th Street/Metro Center station (the true downtown hub station) - Union Station (with connections to regional and intercity rail) - Sepulveda station with east-west and north-south (assuming future I-405 rail line built to connect with Expo Line here). It will be the Westside's major rail hub. - Hollywood/Highland due to it being a prime LA destination and gateway to Valley connections - Century station for LAX connections, the South Bay and rail connections to Norwalk, South Bay Mid-Wilshire (assuming northern extension of Crenshaw Line), West Hollywood and Hollywood Those are your future "grand central stations", in my opinion.
|
|
|
Post by gatewaygent on Sept 24, 2012 14:56:36 GMT -8
OK, that seems plausible. I'd also like to add Southgate but only when the WSAB/PEROW is built because the station that is going to be built on Atlantic/Firestone would serve MTA bus lines 115, 260, 611, 762; and with slight service adjustments 117 and Montebello Bus 30.
|
|
|
Post by metrocenter on Dec 7, 2012 14:02:29 GMT -8
BTW, now that I work on Bunker Hill in Downtown LA, I've taken a closer look at the plans for "2nd/Hope" station. I'm realizing that it's going to involve a major realignment of Flower Street, which will greatly simplify the current maze of "freeway ramps" west of Bunker Hill. (The following detail is for anyone interested. It took awhile of staring at diagrams and artists renderings to figure out the scope of the changes.) The single station portal will be located on the west side of Hope Street, between 2nd Street and Kosciusko. This is (and will continue to be) a small island of grass between Flower and Hope, 2nd Street and Kosciusko Way. The entrance will face southeast, toward Kosciusko/Hope. The streets will be reconfigured as follows: - The long ramp from NB Flower to Kosciusko will be eliminated.
- NB and SB Flower will be put at the same level, eliminating the underpass below 2nd Place.
(It's not currently clear whether NB Flower will be lowered, or SB Flower will be raised, or both.)
- "2nd Place" will be relocated south, to connect directly to Kosciusko.
The curve of the subway tunnel will roughly follow the path of current ramp connecting NB Flower to Kosciusko (which will be eliminated). The area will benefit in the following ways: - Fewer, simpler roadways. Good for both drivers and pedestrians, and both locals and tourists.
- Consistent names, and elimination of stub streets. Easier to understand.
- New reclaimed and reconnected land, for either park or development.
- More space for station area.
What I would like to see: - Add steps/escalators up Kosciuscko from Hope Street to Grand Avenue.
- Add back entrance to the station structure (facing Flower Street.)
- Rename the tiny "2nd Place" to "Kosciusko", to remove confusion.
- Entitle some of the newly-reclaimed space northwest of the "central plant" for mixed-use development.
|
|
|
Post by metrocenter on Jan 18, 2013 8:56:42 GMT -8
The RFP for the Regional Connector has been issued: see this article on The Source. The four contractors prequalified for the RFP are: - Dragados/Schiavone/Southland
(Dragados USA, Inc., Schiavone Construction Co. LLC, and Southland Contracting, Inc.)
- Skanska/Kiewit/Traylor Bros dba "Regional Connector Constructors"
(Skanska USA Civil West California District, Inc., Kiewit Infrastructure West Co.; and Traylor Bros., Inc.)
- Shea/Walsh/PTG
(J. F. Shea Construction, Inc., Walsh Construction Company, and Parsons Transportation Group, Inc.)
- Shimmick/Obayashi/FCC
(Shimmick Construction Company, Inc., Obayashi Corporation, and FCC Construccion, SA)
Some names in this list are very recognizable (from their work on other projects in SoCal), while some may be less familiar. All bids are due May 21. The project is expect to be completed in 2019. And if I am still at the same job six years from now, I will have a new station one block away from work (woohoo!).
|
|