Streetcar Alignments Refined; Public Briefing on August 2
L.A. Streetcar Inc. / Metro
Proposed routes for the L.A. Streetcar: At left, 12 variations presented in May. At right, the seven options recommended to receive more study.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Ever since the effort to return a streetcar to Downtown Los Angeles took new life in 2008, residents and backers have turned into would-be transit planners, plotting out their own ideas on just where a first phase estimated at $100 to $120 million should run.
In May, the team conducting Metro's environmental assessment brought a dozen variations out to a public scoping meeting, offering options that used Broadway and Hill or Olive to connect Bunker Hill—or Union Station—with the Convention Center and L.A. Live in South Park.
Now Metro says that seven of those variations should move forward, eliminating four options in the Bunker Hill area and one in South Park.
Remaining on the north end of the line are three variations. A4 creates a northern loop, using 5th Street and Grand Avenue to access Bunker Hill before turning east at 1st. A6 serves a similar footprint, but accesses the hill on 1st Street—where the grade is only 9%, much less than the 14% climb faced on Grand north of 5th. It dead-ends on Grand next to the Disney Concert Hall and the forthcoming Broad art museum, with cars reversing course to head back down 1st toward Broadway.
The final northern option, designated A7, ignores Bunker Hill entirely and connects to Union Station and Olvera Street instead.
On the southern end, both variations travel south on Broadway and north on Figueroa. They vary in the street they use to travel west, with C3 cutting across 11th Street and C1 going down Pico Boulevard.
In its summary of input from the May meeting, Metro notes that C1 serves an area with more development potential and connects more directly to the Convention Center, but that C3 offers a shorter connection to the existing neighborhood in South Park.
The options are available on Metro's streetcar website, and will be presented at a public meeting on Tuesday, August 2, that will take place from 5:30 to 7pm in the Caltrans Building's 1st floor conference room.
Chris Loos on July 22, 2011, at 10:45AM – #1
For the south end, option C3 makes the most sense to me. It runs down 11th, right through the heart of South Park, and hits Fig right at the entrance to LA Live and the Staples Center.
Also, didn't the My Figueroa plan call for 11th to be turned into a complete street? In that regard, I could see these two plans dovetailing nicely.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on July 22, 2011, at 11:34AM – #2
Chris: But what about the streetcar as development driver? Backers would say that the line could be what turns Pico into what 11th already is.
crystal on July 22, 2011, at 12:19PM – #3
True if you want off in South Park just get off at a N/S stop.
Why are they even considering a route with out Bunker Hill?
Alec Mitchell on July 22, 2011, at 01:13PM – #4
There were a lot of people at the last community meeting who expressed the opinion that a connection with Union Station was critical. I think that's pretty short-sighted and reflects outmoded hub-and-spoke thinking about our transportation system. Los Angeles, and Downtown in particular, would be best served by a gridded system, rather than a system where all lines lead to the same – often out of the way – end point.
People wanting to get to Union Station or Olvera St will be able to do so more effectively via Subway or Regional Connector transfers. Connecting the attractions in South Park to the attractions on Bunker Hill via the scenery of the Historic Core seems much more sensible. There will be stops that facilitate frequent transfers into the larger transit system, so there's no need to bring everything to the "hub".
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on July 22, 2011, at 02:04PM – #5
Alec: And pretty soon after the streetcar you're looking at having the Regional Connector running, so you end up with four points on a Bunker Hill streetcar route where you stop next to a rail station with access to Union Station (Red Line: Pershing Square; Connector: Pico, 2nd / Broadway, 2nd / Hope).
Chris Loos on July 23, 2011, at 10:48AM – #6
@Eric - That's a good point. Streetcars are wonderful drivers of economic developments, as Portland shows. I'd be happy with C1 as long as there is a stop at 11th and Fig.
Downtowncommuter on July 24, 2011, at 04:50PM – #7
Sorry, rail lovers...this ain't gonna happen. Just like the HSR is dead as well. In case you haven't noticed, I'll point out that the state and the country is broke, broke, broke, and Republicans, despite being outnumbered on paper in California, have all the power they need to stop public transportation projects that (a) provide a service only for a group of people who never vote Republican (b) is built by unions that never vote Republican and (c) could negatively impact the oil companies, which of course DO vote Republican.
The LAT has the HSR-is-dead story in today's paper. Just a matter of time before this downtown train is just as dead.
Chris Loos on July 24, 2011, at 08:42PM – #8
@Downtowncommuter
Can't tell if trolling or if you really don't know that the downtown streetcar is privately funded...
William Crandell on July 24, 2011, at 09:18PM – #9
A look of the LAT website shows no such article and using its search box results in absolutely nothing.
Downtowncommuter appears to be one of those die-hard Repug Tea Party extremists.
What the LAT does have, however, is a very good article regards an interesting family of seven from northern California in town for a visit and getting all about the city using various modes of mass transit.
LAofAnaheim on July 24, 2011, at 11:12PM – #10
Connecting the streetcar to Union Station is a waste. The streetcar will already connect to 7th street, Pershing Square, Civic Center and Pico stations. Plus, when the Downtown Connector is running, the streetcar will then be connected to the new Grand Avenue (2nd/Hope) and Broadway/2nd stations. So people coming from all over LA can easily connect to the streetcar with no transfers (except Green Line passengers).
oScott Mercer on July 25, 2011, at 09:07AM – #11
Sorry, Downtown Commuter, people paying attention to you ain't gonna happen.
Downtowncommuter on July 26, 2011, at 10:35AM – #12
Chris and Co...
Sorry for the delayed response; real life has kept me away from this very useful site.
Feel free to check my posts here and at Curbed and decide for yourself if I'm a troll. I think of myself as a level-headed progressive who comes down on the side of liberal social thought far more often than trolls do.
As for the HSR story, I mistakenly said LAT when in fact the story was in Huffpo. My bad:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/24/california-high-speed-rai_n_908083.html
As for claims that the streetcar will be "privately funded," I point you in the direction of the streetcar's own website, which points out that public funds have been used already, and that redevelopment agencies (should they survive) and special tax districts will be set up to provide the bulk of funding. Semantics aside, private funds are not paying 100 percent of construction.
http://www.lastreetcar.org/funding/funding-sources/