Slow Running On L.A. Expo Line

[WhoozOn1st]

Expo Line project costs and delays are ballooning

"The 8.6-mile line has been touted by planners as a fast and cost-effective route for rail service to the Westside because it is being built mostly on an abandoned Southern Pacific right-of-way.

"But a variety of factors have held up what was supposed to be a relatively quick project and added to the costs. Among them: construction delays where the Expo and Blue lines meet on Flower Street, the decision to add a station at USC and safety improvements required next to public schools along the route."

"The Blue Line segment is crucial because plans call for Expo Line trains to follow the Blue Line route into the downtown Metro Center station, which planners expect would be a key destination for many riders."

Sidebar: A tour of L.A.'s rich rail history

 

[DET63]

So will the L.A. Expo Line start running before or after the Austin Red Line?

 

[WhoozOn1st]

L.A. Times letter, copy/paste to avoid slogging through other 7 printed 12-11-09:

Re “Expo Line running over budget, behind schedule,” Dec. 8

It is ironic that complaints of delays and increased costs of building the Expo Line are made by those who helped to both cause delays and increase costs by pressing for costly and unnecessary changes in design. Such remarks probably evoke bitter laughter from Expo Authority staff, who have been doing their best to expedite construction and keep costs down, going to great lengths to make all grade crossings extremely safe along Phase One of the Expo Line.

Now that the final environmental impact report for Phase Two is about to be released, perhaps the obvious and very pressing need for light rail from downtown to Santa Monica will persuade members of the public to work constructively for the extension of this line.

_______

The Times notes that the writers are co-chairs of Light Rail for Cheviot, a neighborhood organization. I note that the writers are quite right in pointing out that the biggest whiners are griping about problems they helped cause. Expo Line delays and cost overruns are not the results of bureaucratic snafus, agency footdragging, or contractor problems. Aside from the unforeseen difficulties encountered making the connection to the Blue Line, the main reason for construction schedule setbacks (and attendant cost escalation) is rearguard action by NIMBYs who never wanted the line at all.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I'd like to shoot, shoot, shoot, NIMBYs and BANANAs!

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Delays, delays! Now the issue is late night construction noise.

Another Expo Line setback

"After residents complain about nighttime noise, a permit for round-the-clock construction is revoked. Officials hope a compromise will keep neighbors happy but let the work progress faster."

 

[WhoozOn1st]

West L.A. residents have met the enemy, and it is them. L.A. Times editorial:

Making tracks to the Westside - Westside residents need, and yet oppose, traffic relief.

"Traffic congestion is among the most common complaints in West L.A., where residents can either stew on the freeway at rush hour or take the bus, which is usually far slower. With funding finally available to change that, there's only one thing in the way of relief for Westsiders: themselves."

Expo E-Newsletter (pdf), with construction photos.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Green light!

Officials approve plans for Expo Line route on Westside

"The MTA has for decades wanted to build a subway along Wilshire Boulevard through Beverly Hills and into Santa Monica. But the high price -- several billion dollars -- has stalled the effort. And that leaves the Expo Line as the only viable plan right now for an east-west rail link from downtown to Santa Monica."

The story notes the completed Expo Line "would also mark the farthest west a rail line has reached in several decades." Seven decades, actually. Pacific Electric's line to Santa Monica was converted to buses in 1940: Santa Monica via Beverly Hills Line Tour.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Expo Line officials hope to receive approval in July on the last one of the line's 38 grade crossings. A high school sits at the intersection where Exposition Blvd. (hence Expo Line) crosses Farmdale Ave., and design of the line there has been a bone of contention with area residents for almost 4 years.

Expo Line's Last Hurdle

"Trying to ease neighborhood concerns, the Expo Construction Authority revised its original plan for the Farmdale grade crossing and submitted it for approval to the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates certain rail issues.

"The commission, which held the hearing Tuesday night, rejected for safety reasons the authority's first design for the grade crossing in February 2009 but allowed project officials to amend their plan. The initial proposal called for a pedestrian area and vehicle gates to control the intersection where trains would pass.

"The revision includes traffic signals, warning signs, the latest vehicle and pedestrian gates, a pedestrian holding area and two station platforms, which will require trains traveling in both directions to stop before reaching the intersection. The station, which can be used by students and residents, was not in the original plans.

"In addition, Expo officials say trains will not enter the intersection unless it is clear and the line will have an automated system to prevent trains from going faster than 15 mph across Farmdale."

 

[Bob Dylan]

Nowhere else but LA! They complain about going slow, yet want to slow up the trains! Go figure! :blink: :lol: :lol: GO CELTICS!!!!

 

[leemell]

Nowhere else but LA! They complain about going slow, yet want to slow up the trains! Go figure! :blink: :lol: :lol: GO CELTICS!!!!

NIMBYs are everywhere. GO Lakers 2-1.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

A letter to the Times editor regarding the above story, copy/pasted to avoid an off-topic slog through the 7 others on various issues:

Train safety is elementary

Re "Expo line's last hurdle," June 8

When I attended North Hollywood High School in the late 1950s, a heavy-rail line ran along the northern side of the school.

Today, the same corridor carries the Orange Line Busway. Large and heavy articulated buses pass by every few minutes — about as often as light rail would pass through the intersection of Exposition and Farmdale, near Susan Miller Dorsey High School.

I continue to live near North Hollywood High and never have heard of a transit-related pedestrian or driver injury in the intersection at the northeast corner of the school.

Activist Damien Goodmon worries that a motorist's "wrong turn at the wrong time … would go right into a group of 100 students." Without the planned gates and signals, isn't that more likely to happen today?

Are the several groups of objectors to the at-grade crossing near Dorsey High School worried that students and motorists are not smart enough to keep from being hit by a train?

 

[WhoozOn1st]

More delays plague Expo Line

"The Construction Authority, which is building the line for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has dealt with a series of problems, including the relocation of the line's maintenance facility, unanticipated ventilation issues with the below-grade portion of the line at Figueroa Street and the need for safety improvements where the Expo Line ties into the Blue Line. Those problems have all been resolved, according to Richard Thorpe, the Construction Authority's chief executive."

 

[jimhudson]

More delays plague Expo Line

"The Construction Authority, which is building the line for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has dealt with a series of problems, including the relocation of the line's maintenance facility, unanticipated ventilation issues with the below-grade portion of the line at Figueroa Street and the need for safety improvements where the Expo Line ties into the Blue Line. Those problems have all been resolved, according to Richard Thorpe, the Construction Authority's chief executive."

Any of the anti-rail politicians running in SoCal campaigning on shutting down these "boondogles" so MORE "Freeways" can be built! (How about the 1025 Patrick?) :lol: :lol: :lol: NIMBYs are forever, hboy:

 

[WhoozOn1st]

The authors of this L.A. Times Op-Ed piece assert that Expo Line opponents in their area of Greater Los Angeles are a noisy minority, and that the quiet majority of residents welcome - or are at least open to - light rail.

The Expo Line's noisemakers

"Many of our neighbors have enjoyed living in cities with highly developed transit systems, such as Chicago, New York, Paris and Berlin. One woman had chosen her Boston apartment because it was near a rail station, so she could commute without driving. 'Why,' these neighbors ask us, looking puzzled, 'would anyone not want a transit line near their homes?'

"As we go door to door, it becomes extremely clear: The great majority of our neighbors either welcome this new transit line or are uninformed but open to it. Only a minority oppose the line."

The authors are co-chairs of Light Rail for Cheviot Hills.

 

[Spokker]

New drive-by of the Expo Line.



Looks more like the Blue Line than the Gold Line to me.

 

[Nexis4Jersey]

When does Phase 1 open?

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Thanks for posting cool vid. Expo Phase I opening is targeted for late this year.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

This item says Phase I is set to open in November.

LA Expo Line Phase 2 advances

"Expo Phase 2, budgeted at $1.5 billion, is scheduled to open sometime in 2015. The extended line will run from the end-point of the Phase 1 terminus, in Culver City, to 4th Street and Colorado Boulevard in Santa Monica."

4th & Colorado is about 2 blocks short of the famed Santa Monica Pier, which is essentially an extension of Colorado after crossing Ocean Ave.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

New drive-by of the Expo Line.

Watching this video the first thing that jumped out at me were rising overpasses doing their best to help keep the light rail line out of the way of the precious vehicular traffic below. Leave it to us to finally find a way to make even light rail look silly and probably take a hit to its energy consumption and possibly its speed and ride smoothness. Later in the video things smooth out and it looks more like a traditional metro but it's hard to ignore those first few minutes when it looks like nothing more than an unwanted afterthought of a line. On the plus side at least something positive is happening over there. I live in the seventh largest city in America and yet we don't have even a single light rail line or even a single carpool lane. Anywhere.

 

[leemell]

New drive-by of the Expo Line.

This is being built on an existing rail ROW so the choice of where to it put is mostly made by default and the choice of under- over- pass or level crossing is tougher to change because of the costs involved and the money available. Some have been made but the number must be minimized to be able to complete the line.

 

[Eric S]

I would imagine that the light rail line will be permitted to run at a higher speed because of the grade separated intersections as opposed to if those were at-grade crossings.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Phase I will operate only as far as La Cienega at first, then to downtown Culver City...

Expo Line set to begin test runs

"'From a line that had every sort of challenge for close to 10 years, it's absolutely amazing that it's coming to fruition,' said Bart Reed, executive director of the nonprofit Transit Coalition. 'Going anywhere to West L.A. or Culver City is a long, slow, tedious trip, and having the choice to be on a train and have a predictable schedule changes the whole dynamics of going in either direction. It's a game-changer in terms of choice.'"