Expo-Line EIR Report
After a 24 hour delay and the use of additional photo copiers, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be releasing today an environmental impact report 9.6-mile light-rail line from downtown to Culver City, and hopefully one day even all the way to Santa Monica.For additional info on this project, a great source is Friends for Expo Transit whom I lifted the map above from. As for the EIR issue, heres snippets from CNS:
The line, with construction set to start early next year, would follow an old Union Pacific route paralleling Exposition and Jefferson boulevards, but MTA officials said they lacked about $50 million in funding, the Los Angeles Times reported over the weekend. About $590 million in federal and state funding has been identified so far.
The first phase on construction, set to be complete in 2010, would bring riders to an "interim terminus'' in Culver City.
For years, the MTA considered extending west the Red Line spur under Wilshire Boulevard, ending at Western Avenue, but the costs of tunneling pushed projected costs for the first 3 miles to around $1 billion.
The MTA plans to post the environmental impact reports on its Web site at http://www.mta.net. Public hearings on the Expo Line are scheduled next month, and the MTA board is set vote on funding for the line in December.
Posted by Anonymous @ 10/11/2005 07:15:00 AM
16 Comments:
Road to nowhere.
Santa Monica is nowhere?!?
PS. have you seen the 10 lately?
PPS. Have you seen any digging under Wilshire lately?
Be careful Mr Moore, this is an area that actually you would benefit from on election day.
The Middle Class Black Vote who would actually be in favor of most of your issues and would donate to your campaign.
$640,000,000 for 9.6 miles of light rail
= $66,666,666 per mile
= $12,626 per foot (5280 ft/mi)
= $1,052 per inch
What a bargain!
Subways are approximately 300 million dollars per mile, if not more due to methane and other such problems. With most of these improvement, it's fair to say that if it were cheaper to do these, they'd have been done by now.
We've hit all the low-hanging fruit already--isn't it silly to criticize the cost of big-ticket items, when only big-ticket items are left, and there aren't any other good remedies to the traffic problem besides at least an attempt at mass transit?
And before you start going on about how LA is such a car culture and mass transit will never work, think about the incredible development opportunities around these new lines. There will probably be new medium-density and high-density development, which would both create a natural ridership for the lines, and help alleviate our housing crisis in a sensible way, instead of placing high-density development all over the city.
I, for one, am happy to see these things moving, because infrastructure development goes hand-in-hand with good planning and smart growth.
I know Santa Monica, sir. Santa Monica is a friend of mine. Culver City, sir, is not Santa Monica.
Or something....
Plus, the price per inch! Criminey! Why not just give out free Harleys? It would cost less, and increase the flow of traffic. Plus, it would be WAY cool.
What sort of trains are they going to use on these tracks?
The red line, blue line, and gold line each have different technologies. I think that the newer trains on the gold line are the best of the bunch.
If this train line started downtown and ran down the blue line, would that mean it would have to have cars like the blue line?
I don't know enough about railroads to figure this out.
To those who trash talk railways in L.A.: yes, they suck BUT this region used to have the best rail system in the world. It's skeleton still pushes its way to the surface in spots. There is a fat railway right-of-way down Exposition Blvd. You could almost say that this was meant to be (again).
Taking your suggestion seriously (though it's not intended to be :) ) You might be able to buy the Harley's but would you able to pay for maintenance, gas costs, security (for riders) plus additional road capacity to handle let's say 30,000 additional trips over that area per day over 10 years? A rail line that as or more successful(this runs in one of the most dense corridors in Los Angeles) than the Blue Line (highest ridership light rail line in the US) will make this worth the investment. (Gold Line in Pasadena I don't think has been as successful because of relatively low density, low amounts of transit-takers already living there, and the fact that it inexplicably slows down at some places on the route) The fact is without some sort of pricing system on the highway everytime you go on the freeway your effectively being subsidized-because your gas taxes pay for the roads but when you get on the freeway your not paying for the cost your imposing (in the form of additional traffic) on other drivers.
Judging from the numbers, I can only assume that the bulk of this goes to purchase the property. Can't imagine spending that much money for an above ground rail.
^nope. The MTA already owns the Expo right of way. $66 million per mile is a bargain for rail. How much is the 405 widening project setting us back?
I'm for light rail. I want the Expo Line. But as a novice, I just don't see what $66 million buys in a one-mile stretch.
Granted there are archetectural costs, engineering costs, some excavation costs, and materials.
However, I don't see how this adds up to $66 million for each mile. I'm open to someone breaking this down.
66 million pays for stations-to relocate any utilities that might need relocating (don't know if that would be needed on this project)-the railcars themselves- putting tracks for the vehicles-things so that everyone access the stations-and of course the engineers, construction workers, utility people, etc.
Q. Walter Moore said...
Road to nowhere.
A. Walter, conservatives support electric light rail. Why don't you do your homework?
Q. What sort of trains are they going to use on these tracks?
A. The Expo Line will use the brand new P-2550 cars made by Breda, which are now in evaluation stage running first on the Gold Line, next on the Green Line and lastly on the Blue Line.
These vehicles are designed to be interchangable on all our rail except for the Red Line.
Some of the big costs on Expo are the Grade Separations and the trench over at USC. It should be noted that current CalTrans costs is $40 million / lane mile for new freeway. Rail Lines are infrastructure that last over 150 years, so be sure to divide life span costs.
For those that don't know, freeways have to be rebuilt and their concrete has about a 25 year life span, which is extended by paving with asphalt.
Þ--Þ--Þ
What no one has posted yet is that the City will continue growing in population. Freeways are dead. There is no where to create new ones and you can't widen them. Even if you could do those things to increase capacity how long would it be before we need to build more freeways? One reader stated things pretty accurately, "Only big ticket items are left." Something has to happen fast. Trains in LA are a step in the right direction.
SS Sam Taylor: Thanks for that information and perspective. While the number seems high, it's way more preferable in comparison.
5:29
Gold Line, Green Line, Blue Line and the Expo Line (Silver?) are all the same technology. There are just different models and ages of cars. The Blue Line has most of the old cars. Also, it is possible to run a car on the Blue Line and at the 103rd St station, run it up to the Green Line tracks, effectively creating a Downtown to (almost) LAX seamless connection. Just hasn't been done.
The Red Line is heavy rail cars that can only operate on the Red Line tracks. However, these tracks need not be underground only, the technology exists for the cars to run on an electric third rail and switch to overhead power (like the light rail cars) upon emerging at ground or street level.
The Blue Line is the only line that runs in multiple environments, even though it runs on overhead power. Its subway when it starts out at 7th street, runs on the street in Downtown LA and in parts of Long Beach, on a dedicated railroad right of way for most of its route, and for a few portions of the dedicated right of way, it runs on an elevated track similar to the last leg of the Green Line.
The Orange Line, one of the few things Bob Hertzberg hath wrought that I never agreed with, is a bus with its own pretty (for now) road.
Opening October 29th, by the way.
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