Transit forecast for Wednesday, July 13

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For a complete list of planned service advisories please visit the Service Advisories page on Metro.net. And for the latest service alerts follow @MetroLAalerts on Twitter.

Green Line

Due to maintenance work occurring 9am to 2pm, westbound trains to Redondo Beach will run 4 minutes earlier than regular schedule.

  • Westbound trains to Redondo Beach will depart Norwalk at 9:07am, 9:22am, 9:37am, 9:52am and every 15 minutes until 1:52pm, then regular schedule. 
  • During this time, trains in both directions may share ONE track at Vermont/I-105 or Crenshaw stations.  Please check train destination signs and announcements before boarding.

Dates: through Thursday.

Blue Line

Due to power maintenance work after 8:15pm, northbound trains run 6 minutes later than regular schedule.  Northbound trains to Los Angeles will depart LB Transit Mall at 8:29pm, 8:50pm, 9:10pm, 9:30pm and every 20 minutes until 11:30pm, then 11:41pm, and regular schedule.

During this time, trains in both directions will share the southbound Long Beach track at Vernon, Slauson & Florence stations. Please check train destination signs and announcements before boarding.

Dates: through Thursday.


Detailed explanation of how the Mulholland Bridge over 405 will be torn down

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A view of the Mulholland Bridge from the Skirball Bridge. Photo by Gary Leonard/Metro.

Metro issued a long news release this afternoon explaining the process in which the Mulholland Bridge will be partially demolished this weekend when the 405 is shut down over the Sepulveda Pass.

The entire release is below. Here are a few highlights:

•This is not an “implosion” type demolition. Half the bridge will be taken down by machines — giant jack hammers — nibbling away at the structure.

•About 4,000 tons of concrete are expected to be removed from the southern half of the bridge. While the southern half is rebuilt, the northern half of the current bridge will remain open to traffic. The northern half will be demolished in a similar exercise next year.

•The release says this is the first time in half a century that the 405 in this corridor will be completely shut down.

•The current Mulholland bridge is currently 72 feet wide, 579 feet long and 80 feet high (60 feet from the bottom of the bridge to the 405 roadbed). The new bridge will be widened by 82 feet wide and 608 feet long. The placement of the new columns will allow the new freeway lane — a carpool lane — to be built on the northbound side of the 405.

Here’s the entire news release:

Bridge Demolition Work Will be a Meticulous, Painstaking Process, not a Vegas-Style Demo

Contractors for the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project are planning a precise, carefully orchestrated ballet of workers and machinery to demolish half of the Mulholland Bridge the weekend of July 16-17, not a Vegas-style demolition.

The iconic three-span box girder bridge, standing tall between the canyon vistas connecting San Fernando Valley suburbs with urban Los Angeles’ Westside for more than 50 years will see its southern side steadily chipped away over 53 hours, not 53 seconds. The demolition will be accomplished utilizing the relentless “tat-tat-tat” of jack hammers mounted on heavy equipment, not dynamite.

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The art of transit

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photo by Boguslaw Mielec, via Flickr

Now that’s the kind of elbow room that I wish cyclists had in the Los Angeles area! Go ahead and take a guess where the photo was taken — answer is after the jump.

To submit a photo for the Art of Transit, post it to Metro’s Flickr group, email it to sourcemetro@gmail.com or Tweet it to @metrolosangeles with an #artoftransit hashtag. Many of the photos we’ve featured can be seen in these galleries on Flickr.

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Amtrak offers 50 percent discount for travel between Union Station and Bob Hope Airport during Carmageddon

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Travelers heading from Los Angeles Union Station downtown to Burbank Bob Hope Airport between July 15 and July 17—during the Mulholland Bridge partial demolition and 405 freeway closure in the Sepulveda Pass—can receive a 50 percent discount from Amtrak.

Amtrak describes the offer as an effort to support travelers during the weekend closure of the 405.

Amtrak California will offer coach passengers a 50 percent discount on adult fares for all Pacific Surfliner trains traveling between Union Station downtown and Burbank Bob Hope Airport the July 15 weekend. With the weekend discount, the fare will be $3.00 each way. The train station at the airport is a short walk to the main terminal.

Up to two children (ages 2 to 15) may accompany each adult for a $1.50 fare.

Reservations and schedule information can be found at AmtrakCalifornia.com or Amtrak.com. Travelers have a variety of ways to purchase tickets:

· Amtrak staffed stations
· Amtrak Quik-Trak or Metrolink TVM
· Onboard the train for passengers boarding at Burbank Bob Hope Airport

If you need a discount code, it’s X563.


A two-wheeled guide to Carmageddon

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By now readers have hopefully digested the hint: Avoid driving this weekend, particularly near the 405 freeway and instead enjoy some down time in your own neighborhood. There really is no better way to do the latter than on a bicycle. It’s faster than walking, provides some exercise and there’s usually ample parking.

So, for those looking to dust off the old 10-speed or just rent a bike for the weekend, here are some resources to help get you on your way.

Bike Rentals:

If you’re searching for a bike to rent, a good place to start is Yelp.com, which has local listings and reviews for over 30 bike rental options in the L.A. area. Just plug in your neighborhood and give a ring to the one that suits you best.

Many shops that sell bikes will also rent them for a daily fee, so it’s a good bet to call up your local shop and inquire about their policies and rental rates. Ironically, perhaps the most ubiquitous bike rental operations in L.A. are the beachfront shops that rent out beach cruisers by the hour; however, those shops will probably be hard to get to this weekend, unless you live close to the beach.

A lot more bike info after the jump…
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@MetroLosAngeles Twitter Tuesday – #Carmageddon! edition

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Welcome to Twitter Tuesday, a weekly feature here at The Source in which we’ll round up the latest Metro related tweets in the Twitterverse. To follow Metro on Twitter just search for @MetroLosAngeles. We recommend adding the #MetroLosAngeles tag to your tweets to get our attention.

And when it comes to complaints, the best way to get them addressed is to use the Customer Comment Form on Metro.net. There you can provide all the detail needed so that customer service reps may best address your problems.

#Carmageddon

mindykaling I bet you there’ll be so many babies conceived during Carmageddon

DavidSpade nostradamus predicted carmageddon… and i think mob wives.. and possibly hoarders but i may be wrong

lastreetsblog Why does Streetsblog not cover Carmageddon? Because we don’t think Angelenos are idiots. bit.ly/nHCtgN

tomjensen100 This is the first NASCAR race ever with 140,000 start and park cars. #carmageddon

MJMcKean I’m tired of “carmageddon“. I’m going with “carmagaddadavida”.

MissLeslieG Harry Potter opens the weekend of Carmageddon. What do I do? My Nimbus 3000 is in the shop! #ITrulyAmADork

therealzooeyd Getting ready for ‘carmageddon‘ just excited it’s not karma-karma-karma-karma-karma-mageddon! because that one comes and goes. #boygeorge

thepatrickwalsh Everyone in LA is freaking out about Carmageddon. What they should be scared of is what will hit a few weeks later: Jeep Impact.

After the jump… #ArtOfTransit, #MetroFail and more.

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The Source gets a little visual and functional boost

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Observant readers will notice a few subtle changes around The Source today thanks to a little update courtesy of Metro’s web team.

Here are a few of the things we added that we hope will improve the reading experience:

  • Featured posts: the most obvious addition is the box at the very top of the page that features stories we don’t want readers to miss. This week, obviously, it’s all about Carmageddon. Apologies to those who are sick of it.
  • We’ve installed a new search engine that will hopefully make finding stories from our archives a bit easier. Our old search didn’t handle special characters (quotations, percentage signs, etc.) very well, but the new system does. Give it a try.
  • The fonts and post formats have been tweaked slight for improved readability – check out the new block quotes!
  • In an effort to keep the community active we’ve added a  “Leave a comment!” link to every post and included the number of comments for each post in the “Popular Posts” sidebar box.
  • Big bold badges linking to Metro’s other blogs, El Pasajero and Primary Resources, are now part of the sidebar. Make sure to visit them!

We hope these changes are an improvement, please let us know what you think in the comments.