The Current Situation

Things will be going dark around these parts in the coming weeks. Over the past half year I've been applying to grad school, unsuccessfully as it turns out. Now that I won't be going to grad school, I have to focus on finding a new job which I have been unable to do due to my uncertainty about my admission status.

To that end, I would greatly appreciate any leads, suggestions, or feedback you may have. Feel free to contact me at jvonkerczek@gmail.com.

Hopefully I'll be able to resume writing in the near future. In the meantime, thanks for reading!

Long Beach Light-Rail and Bus Network

The Long Beach rail system would work with the existing bus route to create a transit network serving the entire Metro sub-region. In the context of increased centralization and higher density at the core, this network would serve two distinct functions: high frequency local circulation within central Long Beach and less frequent feeder service connecting the suburbs to outlying stations and satellite transit hubs.

Central Service

Long Beach Transit would provide most of the local service for central Long Beach. Higher population density in the central area will spur increased demand for more frequent bus service along closely spaced routes, thereby reinforcing the central area's inherent transit advantage in relation to the suburban periphery. This transit advantage will in turn enable even higher densities and increased centralization in central Long Beach.



Suburban Feeder Routes

Outside the central area, a collective of bus services (Metro, Torrance Transit, OCTA, Gardena Bus Lines, and Carson Circuit) would create a network of feeder routes connect suburban areas to nearby light-rail stations as well as a handful of satellite transit hubs (Los Cerritos Center, Lakewood Mall, Downtown Bellflower, Compton, Artesia Transit Center/Downtown Carson, Harbor City). Because of their lower densities and distance from the center city, these outlying areas will lack the transit advantages (high frequency of service, closely-spaced routes) of the central area.



Feeder Service by Line

7th Street

Channel Drive Station

• Metro 577x
• OCTA 60
• OCTA 1
  
• LBT 171

Redondo Avenue Station

• LBT 131

PCH & Lakewood

South Street Station

• Metro 266
• OCTA 30
• Long Beach 192

Lakewood Mall Station

• Metro 265
• LBT 93
• LBT 191

Spring Street Station

• LBT 102

Los Alamitos Park Station

• LBT 171
• LBT 172
• LBT 173

Blue Line

Compton Station

• Metro 50
• Metro 125
• Metro 127
• Metro 128
• Metro 202

Artesia Station

• Metro 60/760
• Metro 130

Del Amo

• Carson Circuit D & G
• LBT 191
• LBT 192
• Metro 202

Wilmington/Harbor City

Normandie Station

• Gardena 2
• Torrance Transit 9
• Metro 232
• Metro 205

PCH Station

• Torrance Transit 7
• MX3
• Metro 445
• CE448

Wilmington Blvd Station

• Metro 232

Avalon Blvd Station

• Metro 446, 447
• Metro 202

Santa Fe Ave Station

• Torrance Transit 3

Centralized Rail Transit in Metro Long Beach

Metro Long Beach could achieve numerous transit and development objectives by building upon existing Blue Line infrastructure, including:

• Stitching the Harbor region's urban core (Central Long Beach, Wilmington, San Pedro, Harbor City, and Lomita) into a coherent whole
• Facilitating more intense land usage in this urban core and thereby reinforcing regional centralization
• Establishing and reinforcing a hierarchy of land use and bus service radiating outward from the urban core
• Creating a framework for subsequent transit expansion and urban development of Metro Long Beach
• Bolstering existing transit routes and infrastructure

Each line would contribute to these objectives in its own ways:

The 7th Avenue line would be the central transit artery for the east side extending from downtown to the Medical Center and Cal State. Allowing rapid passage through a large swath of solidly urban land, this line would unlock the development potential of the 7th Avenue corridor while providing a conduit for traffic into and out of the core.

The PCH/Lakewood line would run eastward between the northern edge of central Long Beach and the foot of Signal Hill. Turning northward at Los Alamitos Park (an areas with immense development potential along the lines of Washington DC's Dupont Circle), the line would follow Lakewood Blvd into the northern suburban periphery, connecting to Long Beach Airport, Long Beach College, and Lakewood Mall along the way.

The Wilmington/Harbor City line would bridge the vast industrial zone where the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles penetrate inland via the Dominguez Channel. This direct light rail link would pull these eastern urban districts (Long Beach's Westside, Wilmington, San Pedro, Harbor City, and Lomita) solidly into downtown's orbit. These districts would in turn exert their own pull upon the suburban periphery of Carson, Torrance, and the Palos Verdes peninsula.

Centralization in Metro Long Beach


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Swords into Plowshares

In his recently proposed budget, Defense Secretary Robert Gates' proposed cutting production of the C-17 military transport plane, eliminating 5,000 jobs in the Long Beach plant that manufactures the plane in the process. U.S. Representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Laura Richardson and L.A. Supervisor Don Knabe have already come out against the cuts, while Boeing's quarterly profits dropped 50% and there are rumblings that the aerospace giant could become "the GM of the sky."

Transit development and investment could potentially fill the vacuum left in the wake of the C-17's demise and provide a new economic focal point for the region's existing aerospace, manufacturing, transport and logistics, construction, and real estate sectors. In the near term, Amtrak and the Department of Transportation could supplant NASA and the Pentagon as sources of federal investment in the region, funding an entire spectrum of new-generation passenger rail systems from intra-city light rail to national high-speed rail. Just as Southern California's airfields served as the staging grounds for many 20th century aerospace innovations, 21st century Los Angeles' could serve as an urban laboratory for transit development in sunbelt cities and as an incubator of new industries and technology for what the Overhead Wire blog dubs the "transit space race".

The End of Sprawl

Such a restructuring of Southern California's economy around urban rail transit should be accompanied by new development strategies promoting centralization around urban cores such as Long Beach and El Segundo. Southern California no longer possesses the abundance of cheap, open land to sustain the sprawling growth patterns of the last century. With the U.S. census bureau predicting an increase of 3 million people in the next 30 years in LA County alone, more intensive use of urban land will be necessary if Los Angeles is to effectively absorb anticipated growth while preserving open land and other natural resources. Greater population density will also make subsequent infrastructure investment more economically justifiable, boost land values, and create new real estate markets for compact, walkable housing development.

Metropolitan Long Beach



Long Beach is currently the 37th-largest city in the nation, the fifth-largest in California, and the second-largest in LA County. But Long Beach is surrounded by a constellation of cities that constitute a "Metropolitan Long Beach." These cities include Signal Hill, Lakewood, Hawaiian Gardens, Cerritos, Artesia, Bellflower, Paramount Compton, Carson, Lomita, and the port region of the city of Los Angeles, as well as the unincorporated area of West Carson. This Metro Long Beach encompasses roughly the area of LA County south of the 105 and east of the Harbor Freeway and

Much of this surrounding area might have been part of Long Beach were it not for the history of incorporation in 20th century LA County. Incorporation allowed new municipalities to silo off tax revenue and maintain class and racial segregation from older nearby urban areas like Long Beach, Compton, and Watts. Signal Hill incorporated in 1924 to prevent revenue from its recently discovered oil fields from being absorbed by Long Beach. Paramount incorporated to fend off annexation by Long Beach to the south, Bellflower to the east, and Southgate to the north. Former agricultural areas like Lakewood, Bellflower, and Cerritos incorporated in the late 1950s as their land was rapidly converted to postwar suburban residential development. Particularly after 1954, the state of California facilitated incorporation through what came to be known as the "Lakewood Option", which allowed new municipalities to contract services from the county that they otherwise could not afford to provide.

Encompassing approximately 140 square miles, Metro Long Beach is comparable in area to Detroit and Philadelphia. If it were a unified city, it would be the tenth-most populous city in the U.S. after Dallas and before San Jose and the third-most populous in California after San Diego and before San Jose.



A Coordinated Growth Strategy

Metro Long Beach is ripe for greater centralization via increased population density and transit infrastructure investment. With their compact layouts and central locations, the urban cores of downtown Long Beach, Wilmington, San Pedro, Harbor City, and Lomita are the logical focal points for increased density and centralization. Strengthening these cores will anchor and organize subsequent regional development. Furthermore, directing growth towards these cores will prevent such growth from intruding on suburban areas. With a few exceptions (Lakewood Mall, Los Cerritos Center, Southbay Pavilion), dense infill development would avoid outlying areas to prevent continued decentralization.

If Metro Long Beach were to reach Philadelphia's present day population density, it would need to add 353,643 people. This increased population represents an increase of 30.79% from its current population and 8.82% of LA County's projected population growth over the next 30 years. This would give Metro Long Beach a population of 1,502,241 and make it (in 2007 rankings) the sixth-most populous U.S. city and the second-most populous in California after LA and before San Diego.

If Metro Long Beach were to reach Philadelphia's peak population density of 1950, it would need to add 998,143 people. This increased population represents 86.9% from its current population and 24.89% of LA County's projected population growth. This would give Metro Long Beach a population of 2,146,741 and make it (in 2007 rankings) the fifth-most populous city nationally.

Update

Working on some stuff but it's taking longer to put together.

Harbor Subdivision/South Central Crosstown

Overview

As presently conceived, Metro's Harbor Subdivision Transit Corridor study has a number of problems. First, on its way out of Downtown LA, the line would pass through Vernon, an almost completely industrial city with a population of 91, making this segment effectively useless in spurring transit-oriented redevelopment and revitalization. Furthermore, connections to inbound Blue and South Broadway trains would render an additional inbound route redundant. Second, south of El Segundo, the line stretches entirely too far out into the suburban periphery to serve any real "local" function. It also bypasses the precious few significant nodes of centralization that do exist south of LAX. Third, the line is fundamentally flawed in its conflicting local and regional objectives. Transit systems that attempt to provide local and regional service simultaneously usually fail to provide either adequately.

Despite such problems, the study also reveal great potential for the corridor. The Harbor Subdivision should be reconceived as a crosstown light-rail line running from Norwalk to Manhattan Beach via Huntington Park and Inglewood. The single continuous line would consist of three component segments: a central crosstown route with radial segments extending to the eastern and western periphery at both ends. The route south of Aviation Green Line station to Long Beach should be eliminated from this study (though not from potential future study on its own). And rather than terminating in Downtown LA via Vernon, the line should instead continue eastward on Slauson from the Blue Line station, south underneath Pacific Blvd through Huntington Park and Walnut Park, and east again via the Southern Pacific right-of way from South Gate, through Cudahy, Bell Gardens, and Downey, terminating at the Norwalk Green Line Station.

LA's Industrial Heartland

From Wikipedia:

Historically, the Gateway region is the industrial heartland of Greater Los Angeles. The huge expanse of flat land in the floodplains of the lower Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers proved ideal for industrial development, and large-scale urbanization began in the 1900s. The cheap, fertile land was generally subdivided into long, narrow "railroad lots" aimed at Midwestern and Southern farmers starting new lives as workers in the region's factories. Explosive industrial growth and concurrent suburbanization occurred in World War II and continued throughout the Cold War; by the 1980s, Los Angeles County had become the leading center of industrial production in the United States, with the Gateway Cities leading the way. However, the end of the Cold War and the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico had a devastating effect on the region, and by the end of the 1990s industrial output was far below its historical peak. High-tech industries spurned the area as both lacking in modern buildings and also too polluted and crime-ridden, moving instead to locales such as the western San Fernando Valley, southern Orange County, and Santa Clarita. The logistics firms that grew exponentially with increased traffic at the Port of Los Angeles largely ignored the region as well, instead choosing inland cities such Corona, known as the gateway to the Inland Empire, and Colton. Most of the region's middle-class whites and blacks moved to other parts of Southern California (particularly the Inland Empire) or left the state altogether; the vacuum was filled primarily by persons of Mexican ancestry drawn to cultural magnets like Pacific Boulevard in Huntington Park, with the result that most of the cities of the Gateway region have substantial Latino majorities, with the significant exception of Cerritos, which has a majority Asian population and Artesia, La Mirada, Lakewood, Signal Hill and Whittier, which remain predominantly white.

South Central has followed a similar trajectory as many of the rust belt cities of the Northeast and Midwest and its neglect and decline acts as a drag on the greater LA region. As industry, affluence, and population have continued to decentralize, the disinvestment and decline at the core has steadily expanded in the vacuum left behind. Transit investment in South Central and the Gateway region can help stabilize and strengthen the core, gradually increasing the area's regional competitiveness, and enable South Central and LA's inner industrial suburbs to meaningfully participate in the region's projected growth.

Three Segments



Inner Crosstown Segment

The inner crosstown segment would serve the Slauson corridor between Huntington Park on the east and Hyde Park on the west. South Central west of the Harbor Freeway consists almost entirely of crosstown streets, meaning that regardless of their direction, none of the streets around the Harbor Subdivision run to or from downtown, leading instead to Hollywood, Inglewood and Westchester, Huntington Park and the South Bay. This segment would funnel crosstown traffic to and from the South Broadway/Blue Line Corridor.

Heading east to west, stations include:

• Long Beach/Slauson (Connection: Blue Line)
  
• Central/Slauson
• Harbor/Slauson (Connection: South Broadway Connection, Harbor Busway)
• Vermont/Slauson
  
• Western/Slauson
  
• Florence/Crenshaw (Connection: future Crenshaw Transit Corridor)

Eastern Radial Segment (Hub & Gateway cities)

Leading away from South Central, the Eastern Radial runs through two distinct subregions: the inner Hub Cities of Huntington Park, Walnut Park, South Gate, Cudahy, and Bell Gardens; and the increasingly suburban Gateway Cities of Downey, and Norwalk.

Heading west to east, stations include:

Hub Cities

• Long Beach/Slauson (Connection: Blue Line)
• Pacific/Gage
  
• Pacific/Florence
• Pacific/Broadway
  
• Independence/State
  
• Independence/Atlantic
  
• Eastern/Garfield

Gateway Cities

• Firestone/Old River School
• Firestone/Paramount
• Firestone/Lakewood
• Norwalk Green Line

Western Radial Segment

The Western Segment would run through Inglewood, Westchester, and LAX before connecting with the Green Line to serve El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, and Lawndale. This segment would also serve as a northern radial for El Segundo, connecting its increasingly centralized business district to LAX, Westchester, and Inglewood.

• Florence/La Brea (Inglewood)
• Manchester/Aviation (Westchester)
• Century/Aviation (LAX)
• Nash & Maple (New station on existing Green Line)
• Mariposa*
• El Segundo*
• Douglas*
• Redondo Beach*

*(Existing Green Line station)

Connections with other transit routes:

The South Central region would ultimately be served by three east/west routes (Expo, Harbor Subdivision, Green Line) and three north/south routes (Crenshaw, South Broadway, Blue Line). The Harbor Subdivision Crosstown would connect with three north-south transit routes in addition to the Green Line.

• Blue Line - service to Downtown, Watts, Compton and Long Beach
• South Broadway Line & Harbor Transitway - service to Downtown, USC, Gardena, Carson, and San Pedro
• Crenshaw Transit Corridor - service to Wilshire, Crenshaw/Leimert Park; possibly Hollywood (via Western or La Brea), Hawthorne, Lawndale, and Torrance (via Hawthorne Blvd); Harbor Subdivision could also increase the pressure to construct the Crenshaw Transit Corridor as light-rail.
• Green Line - crosstown service to Hawthorne, Athens, Watts, Lynwood, and Bellflower.

The South Broadway Line

The South Broadway light-rail line would follow South Grand Street along the eastern edge of the Harbor Freeway between downtown LA and the Harbor Freeway Green Line Station. Stations on this line would be anchors for new transit-oriented development, stitching together the very urban fabric the freeway previously severed. Penetrating deep into the expansive gray zones of South Central, such development would also be the focal point for further revitalization to the east and west along Vernon, Slauson, Florence, Manchester, and Century Boulevards.

The major north-south streets running through South Central LA between Figueroa and Alameda create a corridor that radiates from downtown LA to Long Beach and the ports and encompasses the suburban cities of Compton and Carson. The Blue Line currently serves the eastern edge of this corridor, though its route largely bypasses major commercial strips such as Central Avenue and Pacific Avenue. Meanwhile, the Harbor Busway is supposed to provide rapid transit service for the western edge of this corridor, but with only 4 stops in the six miles between I-105 and 37th Street, the Busway serves a primarily regional/commuter function rather than a local function. It also lacks substantial connectivity with the surrounding transit network. The stations themselves, located in the center of the freeway, are noisy, unpleasant, and removed from the surrounding streetscape. The confusing schedule and premium fare are the final nails in the Busway's coffin.

The South Broadway line would bolster the South Central rapid transit network while mitigating the disruptive effects of the Harbor Freeway and anchoring redevelopment efforts in South Central. The Harbor Busway would continue providing regional service to and from areas south of I-105, connect to the South Broadway Line at the I-105, Manchester Ave, Slauson Ave, and 37th Street. The South Broadway could either terminate at I-105 or continue westward to El Segundo, sharing tracks with the Green Line. If it did continue to El Segundo, it could spur further development around the Green Line Stations at Vermont, Crenshaw, and Hawthorne.

Eleven stations serving three districts:

Between Jefferson and the 105, the new line would serve 11 stations. These stations would cluster together in three distinct districts: Inner Broadway/West Newton, Mid-Broadway, and Outer-Broadway.

Inner Broadway/West Newton

Since development west of the Harbor Freeway is constrained by the USC campus and Exposition Park, the blocks to the east (bounded by the freeway Jefferson, Main, and MLK) could be converted from their current warehouse/industrial use into a mid-rise, high-density residential district with close proximity to:

1) Near-downtown institutions like USC, Exposition Park, LA Trade Tech College, Mt Saint Mary's College, Hebrew Union College, and Orthopaedic Hospital
2) Downtown's South Park and Fashion District
3) A newly designated Central Avenue historic district to the east - heart of LA's early 20th century jazz scene anchored by the Dunbar Hotel and Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building and the location of the annual Central Avenue Jazz Festival.

Stations
Harbor Transitway/37th Street
38th Street/Broadway
40th Place/Broadway
Vernon/Grand

Mid-Broadway

Mid-Broadway is a radial district of downtown with extensive crosstown connections to Huntington Park to the east and Inglewood and LAX to the west. Manchester Avenue forms an informal boundary between inner residential districts of LA and outer districts and satellite cities like Watts and South Gate.

Stations
Slauson/Grand
Florence/Broadway
Manchester/Grand

Outer Broadway

This portion of Broadway could be lined with grand, high-quality apartment buildings with direct connections to downtown LA at their doorsteps, with additional access to El Segundo and Norwalk a single transfer away.

Stations
Century Blvd (at Broadway) (117)
108th Street (at Broadway)
Imperial (at Athens) (120)
Harbor Freeway Green Line

Six Segments:

Segment 1: Exposition/Flower to 41st Drive/Grand Ave


View Larger Map

Branching off from the Expo Line and continuing south on Flower, the line would turn east on vacant land just north of 37th Street and run underneath the Harbor Freeway to connect with the 37th Street Harbor Busway Station. Crossing 37th and Hope, it would turn south on Grand Ave, east on 38th, and south on Broadway Place before winding east on 40th Place and to the entrance of the Segment 2 tunnel on Grand Ave.

Street Impacts:
Intersection of 37th & Hope
Grand Ave. between 37th & 38th
38th between Grand & Broadway Place, Intersecting Broadway and Hill
Broadway pl/40th pl/Grand btwn 38th and 41st Dr.

Segment 2: 41st Drive to 54th Street


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The tunnel would run under Grand Ave between 41st drive and 46th Street. Between 46th and 54th Streets, train would run in the Harbor Freeway trench on free land next to the freeway, exploiting the freeway's right of way to avoid crossing surface streets at-grade.

Street Impacts:
Grand Ave. between 41st Pl & 42nd Street
Northbounth Vernon Ave exit ramp
Northbounth 51st Street entrance ramp
38th between Grand & Broadway Place, Intersecting Broadway and Hill
Broadway pl/40th pl/Grand between 38th and 41st Dr.

Segment 3: 54th to 67th


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Emerging from underneath Grand Avenue south of 54th, the line would continue on elevated tracks above Grand Avenue to 67th.

Street Impacts:
Grand Avenue between
- 54th & 58th (exit from tunnel, aerial pillars)
- 59th Pl & 67th (aerial pillars)

Segment 4: 67th to 77th


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The line would descend below Grand Avenue south of 67th Street. Along the way, the tunnel would turn east for a station at Broadway and Florence before resuming course underneath to Grand to 76th Street.

Street Impacts:
Grand Avenue between
- 67th & 71st (ramp, entrance to tunnel)
- 76th & 77th (exit from tunnel)
Northbound 76th Street exit ramp (realigned slightly west)

Segment 5: 77th to 90th


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The line would run at-grade between 77th to 81st, then run on elevated tracks above Grand Ave from 81st to 90th.

Street Impacts:
Grand Avenue between
- 77th & 81st (devoted to light-rail line)
- 81st & 90th (aerial pillars)
79th Street (at grade train crossing)

Segment 6: 90th/Grand to I-105 Green Line/Harbor Busway Station


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The line would run at-grade along Grand Ave from 90th to 95th Street, then at-grade along Broadway from 95th to Imperial Highway. South of Imperial, it would either terminate at the Harbor Freeway Green Line station or continue westward to El Segundo.

Street Impacts:
Grand Avenue between
- 90th & 95th Street (running at grade along street)
Broadway between
- 95th and Imperial Hwy (at grade along street with numerous at-grade crossings)