I took this photo Sunday afternoon from the Backbone Trail above the Pacific Palisades. In the foreground is Westwood and Century City — the telephoto lens smashes them together — and beyond is downtown Los Angeles. The many tall buildings along Wilshire Boulevard form a crescent shape across the left side of the image.
The photo is not an all-encompassing view of the Los Angeles Basin. But it certainly shows a healthy slice of it. And it vividly makes the point that the extension of the Purple Line to the VA Hospital in Westwood will connect the Basin’s key activity centers — probably the most vertical parts of the Basin in terms of building size.
Click on the photo to see a larger view. If you’re curious, here’s exactly where I took the photo. After the jump is a chart from the subway project’s final environmental study showing employment density in downtown L.A., Beverly Hills, Century City and Westwood compared to some other major American cities.
Categories: Projects
Doesn’t make sense that Metro would muck up this plan by routing it under a high school. Takes the the proverbial “shooting yourself in the foot” to a new level.
Hi Joe;
The route chosen was selected for several reasons — it’s away from an active earthquake fault zone along Santa Monica Boulevard, it reaches a station in the heart of Century City and cost. Subways run under buildings, including schools, in the Los Angeles and around the world — despite what some people might say. Go to San Diego and ride on their light rail, which tunnels directly under the San Diego State campus.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
I took this one a few years ago from an airplane. Looks like the right corridor to me!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theoverheadwire/3499079107/
A picture that is truly worth 1000 words.
Thanks for this post- it really puts how badly we need the Westside Subway Extension into perspective.
I just wish this project could move to the front of the line. We all want Expo Phase II, the Foothill extension, the Downtown Regional Connector, and the Crenshaw Line/LAX Connector to be completed, but it seems nuts that we’re doing all those other projects first, and that the Westside Subway Extension won’t be completed until 2036.