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Post by Gokhan on Aug 2, 2010 15:53:11 GMT -8
The construction of Expo Line Phase 2 is now quietly starting. This Thursday the Expo Authority will approve the contract with Parsons (Phase 1 design contractor) for the final design of the Phase 2 Venice Boulevard LRT bridge. The preliminary engineering has already been completed by Parsons ahead of the rest of the preliminary engineering currently being done by the Phase 2 contractors. The final design of the Venice LRT bridge will be the first final design in Phase 2, and it should be completed by the end of the year or early next year. This means the construction of the Phase 2 Venice LRT bridge may start early next year, ahead of the rest of the Phase 2 construction. The implications of this are many-fold. The Phase 2 construction will start immediately and be accelerated. There may be a 2012 opening for the National/Palms Station. The Neighbors for Smart Rail opposition will realize that the line is moving forward through the Phase 2 route. Also, the Venice/Robertson aerial won't be left unfinished as if the trains will fly off the end of it.
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Post by rajacobs on Aug 2, 2010 16:57:40 GMT -8
Awesome... So walking to the Venice station to catch the train may be only temporary ...and folks can judge the value of a train and the "risks" for themselves! ;D
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Post by John Ryan on Aug 2, 2010 19:50:15 GMT -8
Gokhan, have you heard official word of a 2012 National / Palms Station opening, or is this statement rather saying that it is possible based on the current construction schedule?
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 2, 2010 20:58:12 GMT -8
Gokhan, have you heard official word of a 2012 National / Palms Station opening, or is this statement rather saying that it is possible based on the current construction schedule? So far there are no plans for a phased opening of Phase 2. But if the Venice bridge starts construction early next year (no official word on that yet either but things are pointing toward that with the final design being carried out now), this might be a possibility. As this will be very useful for so many people, we will ask for this (National/Palms Station opening around 2012) and find out if the authority is also considering it. Common sense definitely tells everyone, including us and the politicians, that this is a very good thing but we will see if it's feasible.
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Aug 4, 2010 19:02:54 GMT -8
I discovered that a co-worker lives right next to the tunnel under the 10 freeway when I showed him the Expo video.
He said over the last week crews have been clearing all along the right of way near the 10 freeway, cleaning up the brush and have removed the fences blocking the entrance to the 10 freeway underpass. Now it's completely open. He thinks they are also blasting off all of the graffiti.
Oh yeah, since the board crash I should probably re-post this too:
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Post by rajacobs on Aug 4, 2010 19:25:08 GMT -8
I saw the video posted up on Cubed LA (?) and YouTube a couple of days ago. Terrifc work!
...I'm waiting to see what you do for the next installment, given that the ROW between Pico and Barrington and then Barrington to Bundy is entirely fenced and taken over by businesses.
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Post by warrenbowman on Aug 5, 2010 7:25:30 GMT -8
Does anyone know the status of the Phase 2 bike path? I understood that there was an issue with the tunnel under the 10.
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 5, 2010 8:15:40 GMT -8
Does anyone know the status of the Phase 2 bike path? I understood that there was an issue with the tunnel under the 10. I don't know the exact status but the FEIR for it was being done by the city and state and should have been finished by now. I believe some funding is still needed for the segment between Sawtelle and Centinela but the construction of the 17-ft-wide dual-use bike and pedestrian path will be concurrent with the light-rail construction.
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 5, 2010 8:33:31 GMT -8
Just in. Greg Mantell's CNN iReport on Expo Light-Rail Line to Santa Monica, including interviews with TTC president Bart Reed, NFSR president Terri Tippit, and Light-Rail for Cheviot cochair Karen Leonard. Note the typical opposition pretext of "We want it but... ...below ground... ...done right or not at all... etc." This is the same as it has always been with NOBLAG (No Pasadena Blue Line Above Ground), Fix Expo Farmdale, etc. They know they simply can't oppose it so that they create a pretext. And there is always an opportunist like Fix Expo or Terri Tippit, who uses this for his/her own political benefit and leads the antimovement:
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Aug 5, 2010 9:39:17 GMT -8
Thanks for the post, it's interesting although giving them equal time to spout their nonsense is getting old. Their views are just irrelevant. The simple fact is that a majority of folks want this train running as soon as possible. I really think we should just start ignoring them - it's just not worth the time. By the way, Expo was talked about on KCRW for five full minutes. You can't buy this kind of coverage! www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/lo/lo100802expo_line_video
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 5, 2010 14:13:36 GMT -8
This article is really great: "One of the fun things about all the streetcar lines weaving through Los Angeles again is the trackside view you get of the city.
I love that perspective. Riding the Gold Line to Pasadena or the Green Line to the South Bay gives you a look at neighborhoods you can't appreciate in the same way behind the wheel of a car, or riding the bus.
It's a glimpse of the back side, and also a trip back in time - a face of the city that's become hidden since we all started driving freeways."No one could have said better about the visual light-rail experience. That's why we need the sound walls as low as possible.
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 5, 2010 14:22:00 GMT -8
At the Expo board meeting today, unions urged the start of the Phase 2 construction as soon as possible, citing how it would help so many unemployed people currently out there. Also, a desperate Fix Expo clearly showed that he has now completely run out of ammunition and he focused his vicious attacks on Bernard Parks. Here is the audio of the public comments.
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Post by rajacobs on Aug 5, 2010 14:53:37 GMT -8
Thanks for the audio from the Expo board meeting.
Questions regarding "ethics violations" could have been explored off-line. They seemed inappropriate at the board meeting and intended only as a vehicle to insert guilt-by-innuendo into the meeting and discredit a board member.
Those Expo folks must be sorely tired of such shenanigans. To hear the trade union representatives express their need that Expo moves forward "expeditiously" --for jobs(!), and to remember the mayor's assertion that LA will be a "transit-oriented city" and to see the community's longing for it, suggests that the board would want to approve ASAP the design, engineering and construction of the Venice bridge and the National-Palms station.
Heck I can imagine the board taking the rail as far as they can to hasten completion of Phase II and watch the community's anticipation of rail to Santa Monica put pressure on the "Fix groups" to give way to the inevitable.
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 6, 2010 9:13:34 GMT -8
Regarding phased opening of Phase 2, our TTC board member Jerard Wright asked about it in his public comments to the Expo board yesterday. This is something to be looked into and we won't know for a while whether a phased opening to National/Palms or beyond will be possible. In any case the initial Phase 2 construction will start in early 2011 with the construction of the Venice LRT bridge. As Expo CEO Rick Thorpe said in his video interview by Greg Mantell, "We are going full speed ahead with Phase 2."
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 8, 2010 18:40:35 GMT -8
Make sure to like Hello Expo on Facebook so that you become a member of the Hello Expo community supporting Phase 2! And also suggest it to all your Facebook friends as well!www.facebook.com/pages/Hello-Expo/129341747110269All, Hello Expo is a coalition of neighbors from West Los Angeles. We are supporters of the Exposition Light Rail Line, and, in particular, we look forward to its construction all the way to Santa Monica so that we can use it! The link to the Hello Expo Facebook page is: www.facebook.com/pages/Hello-Expo/129341747110269When you go to the link, please click "like," and suggest Hello Expo to your friends. Let's build support for the line! The start date for the entire line from Downtown to Culver City has been pushed back to 2012, with a portion opening in 2011: the addition of two stations caused another delay and increase in cost. This announcement is going out courtesy of Light Rail for Cheviot, but we hope other organizations and individuals will forward the message to the broader constituency of supporters that we now seek. The Hello Expo Facebook page is intended for that broader constituency - we know it is out there! Thanks, Karen Leonard/Sarah Hays, co-chairs
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 8, 2010 19:11:12 GMT -8
The section of the Expo Phase 2 right-of-way just south of Colorado is a mystery to many people. Therefore, I decided to take a few pictures myself. This is at 20th St, looking east. 20th St is fairly busy and there will be crossing gates at this crossing for safety and efficient operations. Just east of crossing, the line will start rising on a steep mechanically stabilized earth ramp and then cross Olympic and Cloverfield on a very long aerial structure, coming at-grade before 26th St, which is followed by the Olympic/26th (Bergamot) Station. Note the old railroad signal and vague remnants of the old rail in the pavement across the street: 20th St looking west. You can see the tracks ahead in the ground as well as an old railroad signal. A block further west is 19th St, which virtually has no traffic at all. Here too there will be crossing gates, allowing safe and fast operations at 55 MPH. This is looking east. You can see the rail in the ground: Looking west from 19th St. Note that the rail in the ground appears very wide-gauge because the photo had to be taken from the ground under a gate: Same location -- looking west from 19th St -- but further away and therefore a wider angle, bringing the cement plant by the right-of-way in view and showing the rail through the gate: Two blocks from here, the line will leave the Expo right-of-way and emerge in the median of Colorado Ave from the southeast corner of 17th St, making the final mile on Colorado Ave at 35 MPH and controlled by traffic signals.
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Aug 8, 2010 21:28:43 GMT -8
I have been looking at this on Google maps and can't figure out where the ROW used to go. I know that the plan is to pop out on Colorado at 17th street, but it seems to me that that is where the ROW ends, no?
Anywhere I can look this up?
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 8, 2010 22:00:06 GMT -8
I have been looking at this on Google maps and can't figure out where the ROW used to go. I know that the plan is to pop out on Colorado at 17th street, but it seems to me that that is where the ROW ends, no? Anywhere I can look this up? MTA-owned (purchased from Southern Pacific in 1990) 100-ft-wide railroad right-of-way ends at 17th St. The rest of the right-of-way is built on but you can trace it on Google Map as an approximately 100-ft-wide corridor of buildings slightly curving away from Colorado Avenue. It had eventually curved to meet 4th St and I-10 freeway (then Olympic Blvd) and from there on continued toward Main St and followed Main St and Neilson Way (then a Pacific Electric right-of-way) to Venice. Here are some historical aerial photos:
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Post by saltire08 on Aug 9, 2010 0:04:17 GMT -8
Great photos Gokhan!! Every time I see old rails in pavement, it makes me want to scream! Oh what could have been.
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Post by jdrcrasher on Aug 9, 2010 4:36:45 GMT -8
Or what once was...
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Adrian Auer-Hudson
Junior Member
Supporter of "Expo Light Rail - Enabler for the Digital Coast".
Posts: 65
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Post by Adrian Auer-Hudson on Aug 9, 2010 9:57:38 GMT -8
The original Steam Railroad (Los Angeles and Independence Railroad) turned North in Santa Monica and ended at Long Wharf.
Sometimes I wish Expo could still follow this route. The traffic coming south into Santa Monica and then proceeding east on I10 often grinds to a complete halt. One imagines a large Park and Ride station at say Sunset and PCH could prove very tempting!
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Post by darrell on Aug 9, 2010 11:11:20 GMT -8
Here are some historical aerial photos: I should note that what's circled above as Bergamot Station is not the current Bergamot Station location on the east side of 26th Street.
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Post by darrell on Aug 9, 2010 11:19:34 GMT -8
I just saw these this morning on Colorado at 17th Street. The city requires permits like this to be posted at a work site; in this case, they're on poles on Colorado. One big utility installation I know of is underground electrical vaults at Lincoln. The Swartz Glass property (and Hastings Plastics to the west) will be taken for the tracks' curve onto Colorado east of 17th. Written on their four display windows is: ALL ABOARD TRAIN HERE 2015 WELCOME LITE RAIL MOVING SALE
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Post by darrell on Aug 9, 2010 11:22:47 GMT -8
This photo looks kind of surrealistic, and definitely not like where it is. So where is it, and what's behind the tree?
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 9, 2010 11:54:12 GMT -8
This photo looks kind of surrealistic, and definitely not like where it is. So where is it, and what's behind the tree? I've seen those shrubs growing by the right-of-way in Palms by Exposition Boulevard thanks to the rains this year. So, is it where it is -- between the freeway and the railroad in Palms?
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Post by darrell on Aug 9, 2010 12:38:41 GMT -8
I've seen those shrubs growing by the right-of-way in Palms by Exposition Boulevard thanks to the rains this year. So, is it where it is -- between the freeway and the railroad in Palms? You got it! The Expo right-of-way is in front of the tall tree; the Santa Monica Freeway is behind the the tree, east of where National Blvd. goes under both.
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Post by metrocenter on Aug 9, 2010 14:20:29 GMT -8
The Swartz Glass property (and Hastings Plastics to the west) will be taken for the tracks' curve onto Colorado east of 17th. Written on their four display windows is: ALL ABOARD TRAIN HERE 2015 WELCOME LITE RAIL MOVING SALE Wow that's great to see businesses welcoming the Expo Line to Santa Monica, even businesses that are going to be displaced by Expo. Progress is happening, and people are realizing this is a really good thing, especially if you're close enough to take advantage of it.
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Post by jdrcrasher on Aug 9, 2010 15:08:41 GMT -8
^ About time. This anti-rail stance has already cost LA decades of sprawl, and now the ball is really starting to roll on mass transit expansion.
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Post by rubbertoe on Aug 9, 2010 15:46:29 GMT -8
Wow that's great to see businesses welcoming the Expo Line to Santa Monica, even businesses that are going to be displaced by Expo. Progress is happening, and people are realizing this is a really good thing, especially if you're close enough to take advantage of it. When I first saw the picture, I took it completely differently. I interpreted it as utter sarcasm, kind of like "Welcome lite rail, thanks for putting us out of business, so now we have to sell everything". Maybe the non stop NIMBY assault on the various discussion boards are starting to make me jaded, and think that everyone is against light rail but us. Do we know which version is correct? RT
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 9, 2010 15:53:49 GMT -8
Wow that's great to see businesses welcoming the Expo Line to Santa Monica, even businesses that are going to be displaced by Expo. Progress is happening, and people are realizing this is a really good thing, especially if you're close enough to take advantage of it. When I first saw the picture, I took it completely differently. I interpreted it as utter sarcasm, kind of like "Welcome lite rail, thanks for putting us out of business, so now we have to sell everything". Maybe the non stop NIMBY assault on the various discussion boards are starting to make me jaded, and think that everyone is against light rail but us. Do we know which version is correct? RT They are actually getting big $$$ for acquisition and being moved to better locations. Although, they are losing the opportunity to be next to a light-rail station. A bottle of Expo Lite pleeze...
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