One of the key goals of the Los Angeles Union Station Forecourt and Esplanade Improvements Project is something pretty sensible: to make the it easier and safer to reach Union Station for everyone.
The problem: at present Alameda is a wide and busy street that’s not terribly easy to cross. Furthermore, the driveway to Union Station and building front can be chaotic with pedestrians, cyclists, buses and cars dodging one another. Union Station is also separated from Alameda Street by a parking lot, making for a less than inviting entrance to a historic and architecturally-striking building.
As part of the effort to remedy that, Metro is beginning an environmental study for the Los Angeles Union Station Forecourt and Esplanade Improvements Project. A scoping meeting is being held on Thursday, Jan. 26, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Union Station’s Historic Ticketing Concourse for stakeholders to learn more about the study and offer their input about issues they want Metro to examine in the report.
The good news: a good amount of funding has been secured. Among the improvements proposed as part of the project are:
•A pedestrian and bicycle esplanade on the east side of Alameda Street.
•Widened sidewalks on the west side of Alameda Street, which would eliminate one southbound lane on the street.
•Replacing the 60-space parking lot on the north side of Union Station into a civic space with sustainable components and seating space.
•A reconfigured entrance to LAUS to accommodate an enhanced crosswalk across Alameda to the El Pueblo Historic Monument.
•To accommodate a larger crosswalk, the partial closure of Los Angeles Street at Alameda/El Pueblo.
•A new curbside drop-off zone for Union Station at select locations along Alameda Street, which would eliminate one northbound lane of traffic.
•Parking for tourist buses at El Pueblo along the eastern side of Arcadia Street between Alameda and Spring Street.
Below is a PowerPoint on the project, which was originated as part of the Union Station Master Plan:
The report is not yet on metro.net. If you want a pdf and don’t want to deal with Scribd, please email me.
Categories: Policy & Funding, Projects
[…] Metro Seeks Input On Union Station Pedestrianization, Meeting Jan 26 (The Source) […]
These are great changes to Union Station!
See the last page of the slideshow. For your comments to make it into the official record, you have to email them in.
Narrowing Alameda is definitely a good move. It will be more pedestrian friendly, safer and quieter as a result. Getting rid of that western surface parking lot is also long overdue. Union Station is a transit station, not a strip mall. Putting a parking lot out front is anti-pedestrian design.
I noticed the presentation at least alludes to the Park 101 project. Do you know anything about how that is progressing? I know it’s a city, not a county project, but do you know which department is in charge of it or where we could go for updates? News has seemed rather sparse for the past year+.