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Post by bzcat on Jan 18, 2013 10:31:31 GMT -8
I hope Skanska wins the bid. I have been pretty impressed with the speed and efficiency of their Expo II work.
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Post by joshuanickel on Jan 18, 2013 11:57:57 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!). I am hoping for the Regional Connector Constructors team to win. Skanska is doing great work on both expo phase 2 and the gold line bridge. Kiewit, while they are behind schedule on the 405 HOV, hopefully will redeme themselves on the foothill gold line. But the cherry on top is Traylor Bros. They are the people who did the tunnels for the east la gold line. Which is great because they proved they can build a tunnel safe and on time. www.traylor.com/?p=4604#!prettyPhoto
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Post by TransportationZ on Jan 18, 2013 21:14:40 GMT -8
Another vote for Skanska.
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Post by metrocenter on Jan 22, 2013 9:30:43 GMT -8
Japanese Village Plaza Sues Metro Over Regional ConnectorNow Japanese Village is suing. They would like more "mitigation" aka payoff. All these lawsuits really make me sick. Environmental Challenges to L.A. Rail Line By MATT REYNOLDS LOS ANGELES (CN) - A shopping center in L.A.'s Little Tokyo neighborhood sued federal and city officials to try to stop construction of a 1.9-mile underground rail line in downtown Los Angeles.
Japanese Village LLC, owner of the Japanese Village Plaza, sued the Federal Transit Administration, which approved funding for the light railway line, Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and two top FTA officials, in Federal Court.
The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority would run the railroad.
The shopping center wants the project, known as the Regional Connector Transit Corridor, enjoined, citing violations of federal environmental, administrative and transit laws.
The Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites hotel ha filed a similar complaint against the same agencies, claiming the project will disrupt its business and cost it money.
The Japanese Village claims the FTA failed to consider an above-ground alternative, or look at ways to reduce the impact on Little Tokyo Historic District's residents and businesses. (full article)
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Post by Philip on Feb 18, 2013 1:40:42 GMT -8
Getting back to the issue of the future Gold Line not connecting to Union Station, this could eventually be solved with the often-proposed Silver Line LRT. web.archive.org/web/20051029033755/http://www.metrosilverline.com/With this line constructed, it would be possible to route all three lines (Blue, Gold, and Silver) through Union Station. It would simply involve altering the lines. Rather than going to East L.A., the Gold Line would go from Santa Monica to El Monte or La Puente (one alteration - the line would go to Lincoln Park *after* Union Station, instead of before). Rather than going to Santa Monica, the East. L.A. segment of the Gold Line would run on the other half of the Silver Line to Vermont/Santa Monica. So to be clear: Hollywood <----> East L.A. Santa Monica <----> El Monte or La Puente Long Beach <----> Montclair As I stated elsewhere, Union Station will eventually need to either be put underground or expanded to 4 tracks (perhaps both). Not only would you have to accommodate the above, there's also the Santa Ana line to consider, which will also end at Union Station.
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Post by gatewaygent on Feb 20, 2013 0:47:01 GMT -8
Hmm? So the underlying question remains: Is it really that important to the city of Santa Monica and Metro that the line be routed into LAUS? Also, I don't know what the likelihood is of the old Silver Line concept being resurrected and built. It's mentioned in the 2009 LRTP, but not in the Supplement 1. I always hated its eastern branch. Running it in the trench along Mission Rd. never made any sense to me.
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Post by Philip on Feb 20, 2013 13:39:46 GMT -8
I do agree that the old Silver Line concept would be difficult to implement (forget about the troubles Metro has had with the Blue/Expo junction - imagine building junctions into the elevated Union Station tracks!). Still, it does solve the issue of the Gold Line missing Union Station.
Another option would be to start branching the lines off (Santa Monica-East L.A. Santa Monica-Pasadena), but that still creates additional trains and would require more tracks. I figure if that's going to be the end result no matter what, we might as well get another rail line out of it. That would be where the Silver Line comes in.
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Post by jdrcrasher on Feb 20, 2013 18:27:27 GMT -8
Hmm? So the underlying question remains: Is it really that important to the city of Santa Monica and Metro that the line be routed into LAUS? Also, I don't know what the likelihood is of the old Silver Line concept being resurrected and built. It's mentioned in the 2009 LRTP, but not in the Supplement 1. I always hated its eastern branch. Running it in the trench along Mission Rd. never made any sense to me. Agreed; to me, it makes much more sense for it to run on Mission, Huntington, Main, and Las Tunas. Possible stations(east of LAUS): LAC Medical/Lincoln Park Rose Hills Palm Garfield/Downtown Alhambra SGV Medical/San Gabriel San Gabriel Blvd Rosemead Blvd Temple City Santa Anita
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Post by LAofAnaheim on Feb 21, 2013 0:00:06 GMT -8
Not every rail line in/near downtown needs to hit Union Station. LA is large enough that we have 2 Union Stations in downtown with 7th Street/Metro Center and Union Station. The Gold Line, with connections to the Red/Purple/Expo/Blue at 7th and Expo/Blue at Little Tokyo Station will do just fine.
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Post by jdrcrasher on Feb 21, 2013 9:06:12 GMT -8
Not every rail line in/near downtown needs to hit Union Station. LA is large enough that we have 2 Union Stations in downtown with 7th Street/Metro Center and Union Station. The Gold Line, with connections to the Red/Purple/Expo/Blue at 7th and Expo/Blue at Little Tokyo Station will do just fine. So very true
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Post by joemagruder on Feb 21, 2013 11:57:59 GMT -8
Will the Little Tokyo Station be a center platform station? Reversing directions at center platform stations is relatively painless and quick. Having to climb stairs, or worse yet use an elevator, to go from one outside platform to another is a major difficulty.
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Post by metrocenter on Feb 22, 2013 7:40:05 GMT -8
Keep in mind, Little Tokyo station will be a junction station leading to a double split. We discussed the design of the station for years before the project was approved. The biggest design constraint for the junction is the fact that trains will be arriving from below ground (west), ground level (east) and elevated tracks (north), all in the space of one block.
The only design that worked (IIRC) was a two-level station, with one level for south/west-bound trains, and one level for north/east-bound trains. They will probably be connected by stairs/escalators (with elevators for the disabled). UPDATE: See my next post.
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Post by Philip on Feb 22, 2013 9:09:09 GMT -8
Keep in mind, Little Tokyo station will be a junction station leading to a double split. We discussed the design of the station for years before the project was approved. The biggest design constraint for the junction is the fact that trains will be arriving from below ground (west), ground level (east) and elevated tracks (north), all in the space of one block. The only design that worked (IIRC) was a two-level station, with one level for south/west-bound trains, and one level for north/east-bound trains. They will probably be connected by stairs/escalators (with elevators for the disabled). So what we're getting is essentially another Wilshire/Vermont station?
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Post by metrocenter on Feb 22, 2013 10:16:04 GMT -8
Sorry, it has been awhile. The current design is a single level platform, with wyes. The advantage is that it will be easier to build, and will allow users to "double back" without taking elevators. The disadvantage: the wyes will mean trains will have to enter/exit the east of the station quite slowly, due to the danger of hitting oncoming trains. This single-level design was made possible when the station was relocated west toward Central Avenue. This leaves more space to the east, to allow trains to come to the surface. Here is a recent rendering. Red-dashed lines show the tunnels.
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Post by TransportationZ on Feb 22, 2013 10:42:29 GMT -8
This design is solid, though trains have to be slow through the wye is disappointing. I thought technology would have solved this problem. Building another Wilshire/Vermont would have been a huge pain in the ass anyway.
Edit: THIS design is what should have been the Expo/Blue Junction.
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Post by JerardWright on Feb 23, 2013 11:25:26 GMT -8
Sorry, it has been awhile. The current design is a single level platform, with wyes. The advantage is that it will be easier to build, and will allow users to "double back" without taking elevators. The disadvantage: the wyes will mean trains will have to enter/exit the east of the station quite slowly, due to the danger of hitting oncoming trains. As a clarification, this is not a wye but a flat junction as a wye would have had tracks connecting the Pasadena Gold Line to the Eastside Gold Line.
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Post by gatewaygent on Feb 23, 2013 21:36:11 GMT -8
I'll miss and remember fondly the one seat ride from Atlantic Station to Memorial Park, but I won't lament it. Progress is progress. Besides, I think a one seat ride from Atlantic Station to near the Third Street Promenade trumps a one seat ride to Old Town Pasadena.
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Post by crzwdjk on Feb 24, 2013 15:57:57 GMT -8
This is indeed a flat junction, and is unfortunately may constrain the capacity of the whole Connector at some point in the future. Because the tracks cross, there are going to be conflicts between trains coming from East LA and trains going to Pasadena, and because of the relatively sharp curves and resulting low speeds, the amount of time that trains are "in the way" of a conflicting movement is increased. However, the junction can only become a limiting factor once they deal with the other limitations of the line, most notably the at-grade section on Flower and the Blue/Expo junction. As far as direct service to Union Station goes, riders from East LA would only have a wait of at most 6 minutes to transfer, and riders from Santa Monica might actually be better off with all trains going to East LA rather than half the trains going to Union Station. Because if the trains to Union Station run every 12 minutes, that's an average 6 minute wait, versus a guaranteed 3 minute wait for a same-platform transfer to a Union Station train.
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Post by bobdavis on Mar 14, 2013 16:13:25 GMT -8
I just received a notice of "potholing" and utility relocation of Flower St. between 4th and 5th. It'll be a while before we get to the "main event", but were into the preliminaries now. Not sure, but it looks like we may have Downtown Connector tunnel work starting before the Gold Line is finished to Azusa and the Expo reaches Santa Monica.
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Post by bobdavis on Apr 3, 2013 0:39:59 GMT -8
I followed Downtown Connector route at street level today, and found a crew working on Spring St. One of the excavations revealed a section of LA Railway track south of 2nd. A bit of research determined that the #7 streetcar line ran here until 1955 or thereabouts. Attachments:
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 3, 2013 14:35:00 GMT -8
I followed Downtown Connector route at street level today, and found a crew working on Spring St. One of the excavations revealed a section of LA Railway track south of 2nd. A bit of research determined that the #7 streetcar line ran here until 1955 or thereabouts. Cool! Buried treasures of fossils...
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Post by gatewaygent on Apr 3, 2013 15:52:15 GMT -8
I'm just curious now: what do they do with the old rail they find? Is the section dug in its entirety and recycled? Do they blow-torch away the portions that interfere with work and leave the rest? There were tracks surfacing on Rosemead Bl. off Las Tunas Dr. What they did with the portions they found there is a mystery to me still. There's also tracks surfacing on Olympic Bl. between Garfield Av. and Vail Av.
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Post by bobdavis on Apr 3, 2013 21:31:59 GMT -8
The fate of buried streetcar and other street-running track probably depends on the market for scrap iron. Unless scrap prices are high, the labor and material (mostly oxygen for cutting torches) needed to remove any rail that's not in the way of another job makes it uneconomic to dig it up just to get rid of it. In 1952, I observed a machine pulling Pacific Electric rails out of Olive Ave. in Monrovia (I was 11 years old at the time and it left a lasting impression.) This was during the Korean War, and it was also the time PE's 1200-class interurban cars were scrapped. Regarding the Rosemead & Las Tunas track, that would be from the PE line to Temple City, which was opened in 1925 and abandoned in 1941.
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Post by bzcat on Jul 15, 2013 16:30:43 GMT -8
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Post by metrocenter on Jul 18, 2013 6:21:31 GMT -8
Metro to Use Eminent Domain for Little Tokyo SiteDOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is moving forward with eminent domain proceedings in the effort to acquire a Little Tokyo property where the agency plans to build a station for the Regional Connector. The agency has long planned to acquire the parcel bounded by Alameda and First streets and Central Avenue, but it has not been able to reach an agreement with property owner Robert Davies Volk. Volk’s family has owned the plot since the late 1880s, he said. Metro has not disclosed the price it offered for the land, which includes three commercial buildings. They are home to the to-be-displaced restaurants Spice Table and Señor Fish, and Weiland’s Brewery, which closed June 30. Metro’s offer was based on a comprehensive appraisal, said Velma Marshall, Metro deputy executive director of real estate. ... (more)Source: LA Downtown News
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Post by metrocenter on Sept 18, 2013 12:14:43 GMT -8
I was at a small advisory meeting yesterday. The meeting was also attended by a lawyer for the Bonaventure Hotel.
He urged members of the advisory committee to contact the LA City Council, to urge Councilmembers to make concessions to the Bonaventure and the other plaintiffs suing Metro.
The message was clear: the plaintiffs are willing to drop their suit if paid off by the City.
The legal case being brought against Metro is a joke. It alleges that Metro didn't study the impacts of cut-and-cover construction under Flower Street, and that it didn't study tunnel boring under Flower as an alternative.
This argument is ridiculous. The environmental impacts of cut-and-cover are minimal, certainly no worse than boring the tunnel and then bringing the boring machine out of the ground. The idea of boring a tunnel to 7th/Metro Center (at great expense and complication with no benefit) is absurd.
The California case goes to trial November 4, and the federal case begins December 9.
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Post by bzcat on Sept 19, 2013 9:29:03 GMT -8
I have a feeling if Metro had decided to use boring machines, these fleabag lawyers will be suing Metro for not considering cut and cover.
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Post by gatewaygent on Sept 19, 2013 13:42:33 GMT -8
Opportunistic ambulance chasers! In a perfect world, the Bonaventure et al would drop the lawsuit in exchange for building 4th/5th Street station. But alas, this is the real world. Everyone wants a piece of the pie regardless of who will starve and budgets only go so far.
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Post by culvercitylocke on Sept 19, 2013 13:48:55 GMT -8
if the city council can make money appear for all of the extras and bells and whistles for the crenshaw line stations, why not make the money appear for the 4th/5th street station as well.
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Post by andert on Sept 19, 2013 15:37:29 GMT -8
if the city council can make money appear for all of the extras and bells and whistles for the crenshaw line stations, why not make the money appear for the 4th/5th street station as well. They're building it in such a way that it can be added later as an infill station, right?
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