Revised, Integrated Transit Network for Hollywood/Wilshire and the Westside

I attended the Westside Transit meetings in both Westwood and West Hollywood. There were numerous options put on the table, which got my imagination working like crazy. For the sake of clarity and relevance, I've narrowed my focus on the proposals on hand rather than a grand scheme for the system, though I maintain that any transit plan should be guided by a larger long-term vision for transit in Los Angeles. I also still believe a transit system should be concentrated on three hubs: Downtown, Central Hollywood, and Westwood. I've also split my proposal into two sections: the Hollywood/Wilshire area and Westside area.

Hollywood/Wilshire



Obviously the big debate for this area is whether to extend a subway (which public opinion favors nearly unanimously) along Wilshire or down Santa Monica Boulevard. The fact that many of the important destinations (particularly the Beverly Center, Cedar-Sinai, and the Grove/Farmer's Market) between Hollywood and Century City do not fall neatly along any one alignment complicates matters.

My proposal calls for both the Red and the Purple lines to be extended and to meet at Fairfax & Beverly where they would share a tunnel under Beverly and Santa Monica Boulevards to Century City. The Red Line would serve West Hollywood via stations at Santa Monica & La Brea and Santa Monica & Fairfax. The Purple Line extension would have stops along Wilshire at Crenshaw (optional), La Brea, and Fairfax. Both Red and Purple lines would serve the Beverly Center, Cedar-Sinai, and the Grove/Farmer's Market.

Construction of these sections would also provide the opportunity to construct a separate tunnel above those for the Red and Purple lines to be used for either a BRT or LRT line connecting the Crenshaw-Prairie corridor to Hollywood/Highland. New BRT or LRT lines serving portions of West Hollywood and Wilshire bypassed by the subway could also utilize portions of these tunnels.

Westwood and the Westside



The Red and Purple Lines would both turn southward at Wilshire & Santa Monica for two reasons: to allay concerns of Westwood residents regarding tunneling under their neighborhoods and, more importantly, to better serve Century City by stopping at its center rather than its northern edge. Both lines would then continue under Westwood Boulevard (at Santa Monica Boulevard) to its final stop (for now) at Wilshire & Westwood.

The Wilshire/Westwood terminus would serve as the hub for a network of five LRT or BRT lines that would fan out from Westwood to surrounding Westside communities, including Santa Monica, Ocean Park, Venice & Marina Del Ray, Fox Hills, Westchester & LAX, and Culver City.