Transportation headlines, Monday, Nov. 9

by Steve Hymon , November 9, 2009

Hey, it’s Monday. You can either start your week by actually working or by reading all the fascinating stories about transportation that the Metro library has found by scouring the entire Internet.

Three stories, in particular, caught my eye.

The Human Transit blog has a smart post about budget-inspired service cuts in San Francisco and how some cuts may result in better service by getting rid of overlapping bus lines and pumping the saved money into improving the ones that remain.

The L.A. Times has a short story on a few of the highlights of the new Los Angeles Marathon route (Dodger Stadium, L.A. Civic Center, Beverly Hills, the ocean). Here’s a link to a Google map on the marathon’s website. I like the course — I’m hoping to run it, in fact — but I have to think this is going to be a logistical nightmare. The course begins in the Dodger Stadium parking lot and finishes on the bluffs above the Santa Monica Pier. Race organizers are going to run shuttles between the two points, but imagine how much easier this exercise would be if there was something like a train between the two points. Dodger Stadium, of course, is presently mass transit free. The second phase of the Expo Line is due to open to downtown Santa Monica in 2015.

David Allen opens in his column in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin that he believes the Gold Line will arrive in the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire long before high-speed rail ever does. Allen also reviews some of the backlash he received for suggesting recently that if federal funding for transit projects is limited, the money should go to the Westside subway extension before it went to extending the Gold Line to Claremont. Supervisor Mike Antonovich took exception, saying the Gold Line would support the SGV’s emergence as a high-tech corridor.

The entire list of headlines is after the jump.

Despite Its Woes, California’s Dream Still Lives
Time

Does Traffic Get Worse After The End Of Daylight Savings Time?
LAist

Funding California’s Massive Transportation Needs In The Future
Commonwealth Club

Getting Bullet Train, Gold Line On Track
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

The Golden Age, Part II: Light Rail Connecting Downtown With East L.A. Opens This Week
Downtown News

Graceful Interchanges, Now Doubling As Civic Sculpture
New York Times

It Took A “Pueblo” To Build Eastside Gold Line
EGP News

It’s Called Planning
CityWatch

LA Kids Tell City Hall How To Improve Biking – Via YouTube
SF StreetsBlog

Little Tokyo Community Council Opposes Regional Connector Build Alternatives
Rafu Shimpo

Mega Project Prepares Mega Expansion
Downtown News