Due to a loss of power at Pershing Square Station, Metro Red and Purple Line trains are operating on a single track between Westlake/MacArthur Park Staton and Union Station. Delays currently are approximately 20 minutes.
Category Archives: Transportation News
Transportation headlines, Tuesday, March 12: More of us on transit, Big Blue Bus marathon detours, road gender matters
ExpressLanes near Union Station, downtown L.A. Photo by Josh Southwick/Metro
More people on public transit, Metro system leading the way (L.A. Daily News)
Record numbers of Americans ditched their cars and took public transporation in 2012 and some of the largest increases occurred right here. We love this story and not just for the reasons you think. What this tells us is that L.A. — once the car capitol of the world — has considered options to driving and is taking them. It’s a sea change but one that bodes well for a city hugged by freeways. Can Beijing be far behind?
Big Blue Bus says there will be marathon detours. Metro, too. (Santa Monica Mirror)
Are you ready for this Sunday’s marathon detours? Probably not. As we’ve previously posted, there will be detours of buses, as well as of cars. Also worth re-mentioning, Metro will run FREE shuttles from the Expo Line Culver City station to Olympic Boulevard/11th Street in Santa Monica during the marathon as an alternative option for those traveling from downtown to the beach. Here’s the list from Big Blue Bus.
Najarian reconfirmed on Metro Board (Glendale News-Press)
Glendale City Council Member Ara Najarian has been reconfirmed to the Metro Board of Directors.
Gender matters on American roads (Transportation Nation)
More women are driving. So what? Women drive differently than men and have changed driving trends as a whole. Crash patterns are different. But also, women are much more likely to drive compact, fuel-efficient cars. And that’s a good thing for our air quality, not to mention the small issue of climate change.
Take a bus ride from Hollywood to Africa on the newest edition of Metro Motion
In the newest edition of Metro Motion we hop on the Fairfax Avenue bus for a trip from Hollywood to Little Ethiopia, where there’s a colorful gathering of establishments as bright as the African sun.
We visit Cambodia Town in Long Beach via the Blue Line to sample some of the best noodles this community — the largest outside Southeast Asia — has to offer.
With the L.A. River Bike Ride rolling up June 9, it seems like a great time to show viewers just how much fun the new bike path is. It’s also a great time to try out Metro since major construction at the L.A. Zoo, where the ride begins, will make parking a challenge. But Metro can carry participants — and their bikes — to the start of the ride, no hassle.
In another piece we meet with Metro’s executive director of highway projects, Doug Failing, who explains why the agency is involved in highway planning, what’s in store for our region’s roads and why Metro has the pedal to the metal fixing our traffic snarls.
We also take a look at the hidden costs of parking and find that even free parking can be expensive, both financially and in the negative impact it has on our driving habits. To counter those problems, the L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art has enrolled in Metro’s employer pass program and as a result has saved thousands of dollars on parking costs.
Metro Motion runs quarterly on cable stations throughout Los Angeles County.
APTA announces record number of trips on public transportation in 2012
The demand for public transportation rose last year as Americans took 10.5 billion trips, the second highest ridership since 1957, and 154 million more trips than the previous year, according to a report released today by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). This was the seventh year in a row that more than 10 billion trips were taken on public transportation systems nationwide.
From APTA’s press release:
“In 2012, U.S. public transportation ridership grew at a record level as Americans took 10.5 billion trips. This is the second highest ridership since 1957, and it shows that there is a growing demand for public transportation,” said APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy. “Every mode of public transportation showed an increase in ridership. Public transit ridership grew in all areas of the country – north, south, east, and west — in small, medium and large communities, with at least 16 public transit systems reporting record ridership.”
“Considering the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy on some of the nation’s largest systems, this record level of ridership is truly significant,” said Melaniphy.
According to APTA, 74 million trips were lost when public transit systems from Washington, D.C. to Boston were shut down due to Hurricane Sandy and the blizzard that followed the next week.
“Two big reasons for the increased national transit ridership are high, volatile gas prices and in certain localities, a recovering economy with more people returning to work,” said Melaniphy. “Public transportation saves people money, and people save even more so when gas prices spike. Also, since nearly 60 percent of trips taken on public transportation are for work commutes, it makes sense that ridership increases in areas where the economy has improved and new jobs have been added.”
Noting that people are changing their attitudes regarding travel, Melaniphy said, “There is a sea change going on in the way that people look at transportation. Americans want travel choices; they want to be able to choose the best travel option for their lives. This is an exciting time for the public transportation industry as more and more Americans support it and want it.”
Melaniphy also pointed out that more Americans are supporting public transportation investment, as evidenced by the large number of transit-oriented ballot initiatives that passed in 2012.
“Last year 49 out of 62 transit-oriented state and local ballot initiatives passed,” said Melaniphy. “That means there was a nearly 80 percent passage rate. This extremely high rate of success demonstrates how important public transportation is to people and to communities.”
The complete APTA 2012 ridership report is available here. For some breakdown of the numbers and how L.A. compares to transit in other large cities, continue reading after the jump.
Southbound I-405 between 101 and Getty Center Drive is scheduled for full closure March 9
This photo shows falsework previously installed for the rebuilt side of the Mulholland Bridge. Work crews will install falsework over the Southbound I-405 for the north side of the bridge that has yet to be built.
The I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements contractor is scheduled to implement a full southbound-only freeway closure for approximately four miles between the U.S. 101 and Getty Center Drive ramps on the night of Saturday, March 9, 2013 to construct falsework for the Mulholland Bridge in the Sepulveda Pass.
The project contractor will place plate girders for the span of the bridge in the Southbound direction of the freeway. The bridge deck will be constructed on top of these temporary plate girders once installed.
Ramps within the freeway closures limits may begin to close as early as 7 p.m. and freeway lanes will begin to close as early as 11 p.m., leading up to the full directional freeway closure beginning at 1 a.m. and ending at 7 a.m. Sunday morning, weather permitting.
What: Falsework construction to support the reconstruction of the north side of the Mulholland Bridge
When: Full directional southbound freeway closures are anticipated to occur on Saturday, March 9, 2013, weather permitting. Each night, ramps within the freeway closures limits may begin to close as early as 7 p.m. and freeway lanes will begin to close as early as 11:00 pm, leading up to the full directional freeway closure beginning at 1:00 a.m.
Where: Between the 101 freeway and the Getty Center Dr. ramps
What to expect:
- Sepulveda Blvd. will remain open during the nights of the full directional freeway closures and will be used as a detour route. Detour maps are available at www.metro.net/405
- Emergency access will be maintained at all times
- For a listing of daily closures and latest updates visit our website at www.metro.net/405 or follow us on twitter: twitter.com/I_405 and Facebook at facebook.com/405project
- For real-time traffic conditions, visit Caltrans web site at http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov.
Transportation headlines, Thursday, March 7: art of transit, downtown streetcar secures operating funds, new housing in Santa Monica
Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.
ART OF TRANSIT: A Metrolink train at Union Station with Metro HQ in the background. Photo by Rayala, via Twitter.
Los Angeles City Council approves operating funds for downtown streetcar (City of L.A. website, Item 18)
The Council voted on Wednesday to use $352.4 million of Measure R local return funds — the 15 percent of Measure R that goes back to cities on a per capita basis — to pay for operating a downtown Los Angeles streetcar from the years 2017 to 2046. That assumes, of course, the project is built. Downtown residents last November voted to tax themselves to fund half the cost of the project with the remainder of the money being sought from a federal government grant. The cost of the project is expected to be $125 million.
Long isolated behind a freeway, Santa Monica’s Civic Center rejoins its city (New York Times)
A good look at two big projects to help remake the Civic Center with a new public park and a large residential development that includes market-rate condos and income-restricted apartments. The developer, Related, has joined with the nonprofit Community Corporation of Santa Monica to build the apartments, which will be available by a lottery that gives preference to those who work or live in Santa Monica. The building is not a small one — but it is a very short to the future Expo Line station at 4th/Colorado and perhaps it’s a model for building other needed housing in the area.
Los Angeles intends to bid for 2024 Summer Olympics (ESPN)
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sent a letter this week to the United States Olympic Committee saying that L.A. intends to compete to host its third summer games, having had the honors in 1932 and 1984. From a transit standpoint, the second phase of the Expo Line, the Gold Line Foothill Extension, the Regional Connector, the Crenshaw/LAX Line and the first phase of the Westside Subway Extension are scheduled to be open by then. But there’s this: some type of transit to LAX is currently on a schedule to be completed in 2028 and I imagine that’s something the USOC would consider with so many people coming to town. Here’s a recent Metro staff report on possible ways to accelerate the project.
Glendora Council approves new mixed-use development near potential future Gold Line station (San Gabriel Valley Tribune)
The plan is for the development to have 256 new apartments and 4,000 feet of commercial real estate space at the intersection of Glendora Avenue and Route 66. That would put the station close to the planned Glendora station at Vermont Avenue on the second and thus far unfunded phase of the Gold Line Foothill Extension. The first phase is under construction and will run for 11.5 miles from eastern Pasadena to a station just north of Citrus College on the Azusa/Glendora border.
House adopts six month spending bill that disregards federal transportation bill
We mentioned this was in the works earlier this week and now it has come to pass; the Republican-led U.S. House is trying to backtrack on funding commitments in last year's two-year transportation spending bill.
The update from Metro's government relations staff:
Earlier today, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted legislation (H.R. 933) that would, if adopted into law, continue to fund the federal government through September 30, 2013, which is the end of Federal Fiscal Year 2013. The legislation was needed to avert a shutdown of the federal government because last year Congress only adopted a stop-gap funding bill, which expires on March 27, 2013. In a letter sent to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) earlier this week, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and her colleagues Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD) and John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) criticized the continuing resolution adopted today because it “…disregards the funding levels negotiated during the 112th Congress in the surface transportation bill.” In addition to cutting highway safety programs, the legislation adopted today would likely lead to across the board cuts for a variety of federal transportation programs. As of today, it is unclear how the U.S. Senate will react to House passage of H.R. 933. Our agency will continue to support Congressional efforts to honor the transportation funding levels authorized in MAP-21, the surface transportation bill signed into law by President Obama last year.
75 years ago this week: Southern California transportation infrastructure nearly destroyed in epic storm
Very few people likely remember when “The Big One” struck the Los Angeles area. Not an earthquake, but a storm against which all others are measured.
In the first week of March, 1938, an already wet winter was capped off by a deluge previously unseen in the area.
More than 11 inches of rain in downtown Los Angeles (and more than 30 inches at Lake Arrowhead) washed out countless roads and bridges, as well as streetcar and rail lines.
For a short time, Los Angeles was even cut off from the outside world and the damage was the final straw for proponents of flood control on the Los Angeles River.
The full story is over at the Metro Library's Primary Resources blog with links to numerous photos, maps and stories in a 1938 publication from the California Department of Highways and Public Works.
Transportation headlines, Wed., March 6: mayoral election thoughts, subway map for pedestrians, LaHood wants new bikeway standards
Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.
Garcetti and Greuel head to runoff (L.A. Times)
As some polls had predicted, Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel qualified for the runoff election in May for the job of mayor of Los Angeles — and automatic seat plus three appointments to the Metro Board of Directors. This interactive map from the Times breaks down the geography of the voting totals.
It’s pretty obvious from the map that the San Fernando Valley will be competitive. So will South Los Angeles, which mostly voted for Councilwoman Jan Perry. Traffic and transit remain big issues in both the Valley and South L.A. and there are several big projects planned for both areas — the Sepulveda Pass project in the Valley and the Crenshaw/LAX Line in South L.A. So it will be interesting to see if transportation gets a bigger role in the 10-week runoff.
Turnout was a miserable 16 percent. I blame the increasingly long presidential election cycles and the saturation media coverage they generate in the preceding year; it’s little wonder that the average person has little interest in hearing more campaign-speak by the time the city elections roll around the following winter and spring. The city of Los Angeles could move its elections to November, but I have 100 percent confidence they won’t. Why fix a long-standing problem, eh? Over at LAObserved, Mark Lacter blames candidates for not embracing an issue most people care about — traffic.
Unrelated: in the spirit of constructive criticism, may I suggest the Daily News hire a web designer?
Sources: AEG’s downtown football stadium a no-go for the NFL (Yahoo Sports)
This headline is from yesterday. The most interesting part is found in the bottom of the story — with one bidder for AEG proposing to put a baseball stadium instead next to L.A. Live. I’ve long said bringing baseball into downtown proper would be a good move for the city. But I doubt that will happen anytime soon, especially now that the Dodgers have (to their credit) pumped a lot of money into rehabbing the current ballpark.
A subway map for pedestrians (The Atlantic Cities)
Cool map from the Spanish city of Pontevedra. It looks like a subway map but is actually a map showing walking distances. I could see that being useful for some of our region’s transit hubs.
LaHood announces safety summits to shape new bikeway standards (L.A. Streetsblog)
With cyclist deaths rising in 2011, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wants experts to come up with designs that make for safer bike lanes and other bike corridors. Good move. Just because it’s a bike lane, doesn’t mean it’s safe and too many cities — I’m talking to you, Pasadena — have thrown up ‘bike route’ signs on busy streets over the years without doing one single thing otherwise to help cyclists.
Share the road, it’s the law
Metro is launching a new campaign to increase bicycle traffic safety in Los Angeles County. The campaign will include signs on buses, billboards and radio spots with the message “Every Lane is a Bike Lane … Bicyclists may need a full lane; Please share the road.” The ads will run from March to May, leading up to Bike Week May 13 through 17.
As per California Vehicle Code (CVC) 21200, bicycle riders may use any lane in the street since they have the same rights and must follow the same laws as car drivers. Bicyclists may need the full lane to safely navigate specific road and traffic conditions. In addition, CVC 21202 sets out several situations in which bicyclists are specifically permitted to leave their usual position on the far right of the street:
- To avoid obstacles and unsafe conditions (including the door zone along parallel-parked vehicles)
- To pass another bicyclist, car or bus
- To prepare for a left turn
- To avoid an area where right turns are made
- When traveling as fast or faster than other traffic at that time and place
- When the lane is too narrow to share with a vehicle
With bicycling growing in popularity as a serious mode of transportation, it’s important for everyone to work together to create a safe transit environment.
