Over the past few months, I've presented various ideas for transit networks in the the San Gabriel Valley, Orange County, and the San Fernando Valley. During that time, I have also been revising and refining some of my ideas for the northern LA basin, particularly the Westside, Hollywood, and South LA. Many of the changes I've made have involved scaling back to ideas more in line with what Metro has originally proposed. As a result, I believe my revised ideas are actually more effective, more realistic, and actually more attainable than my previous ones.
Not a lot of writing for this post. I'm kind of fried from putting all these ideas together in one drawing. I'll elaborate later on the details of my concept, but for now, here's the overall picture as it currently stands. There are still some omissions and some tweaking that remain for this version. Also, I wanted to present it as one image, but the file was too big. And actually, breking it down into subregions does make it a little more understandable. Anyway, let me know what you think.
San Fernando Valley:
The Westside:
The Eastside:
South LA, the South Bay, and Long Beach:
Orange County:
5 comments:
Are my eyes deceiving me? Have you defected to the ranks of those defending the Cheviot Hills ROW for Expo? I know it's likely the sales tax won't get the STTS all the way to Santa Monica, but are you really telling them Expo is all they'll ever get by including several other lines not on the drawing board right now? Have you abandoned your vaunted "Westwood Regional Connector" that you once called "key to the Westside system", and thus your whole "triangle" layout? Have you not only conceded defeat on the Gold Line Extention to Duarte, but actually proposed a line going further than that (admittedly not all the way to Ontario) - and with an accompanying north-south line that connects only to said longer line?
Well it seems like you have not changed the design much with regards to the Orange County map, but it seems that you are on the right track regardless (no pun intended). However, it does seem increasingly likely that any rail/BRT route along the Pacific Electric ROW will go from Santa Ana all the way to Norwalk and possibly to the Long Beach Green Line station.
Also, BRT is being proposed by MTA/OCTA from the Norwalk Metrolink station to downtown Brea. Similarly, another BRT line is being proposed from Huntington Beach via Beach Blvd. up to Whittier Blvd.
There are others proposed as well in the OC/LA study.
Here is a link to the map:
http://www.octa.net/pdf/Transit_ocla.pdf
Here is a link to the latest committee report:
http://www.metro.net/board/Items/2008/04_April/20080416P&PItem7.pdf
Keep up the good work!! You've got some great ideas thus far.
Morgan: Thanks for pointing out the Gold Line. That was the wrong file so the correct one is up now. As for the Expo Cheviot, I am now pretty much evenly split for either alignment. My change in opinion came as a result of a number of reasons: (1) Metro's proposal of the pink line as HRT subway, which would mean the mode would not be compatible with a Venice LRT lines I previously proposed; (2) limitations of the Sepulveda stretch south of Pico, namely the narrowness of the route and the huge water pipe that would prevent it from ever being placed underground and reduce its effectiveness as a heavy transit corridor; (3) my belief that local mobility on the far Westside would be effectively served by surface transit once the regional traffic has been significantly reduced; (4) the replacement of the Sepulveda axis to LAX with a robust HRT subway connection to LAX via the Crenshaw/Prairie corridor; (5) and an overall shift in my conception of the transit orientation of the entire region. What I mean by this last point is that Downtown LA has a great deal more "pull" than I previously conceived once I took into consideration the needs of the Eastside and South LA as well as the established patterns of development that reinforce Downtown's centrality. I'll try to respond more thoroughly in later postings, but for now that's my thumbnail response.
Calirasta: My ideas and opinions for Orange County are far from solidified at the moment. Can't say whether I agree or disagree with the rail/BRT along the PE ROW going all the way from Santa Ana to Norwalk. My main concern would be that a local mode would be serving a regional function. Also, frankly the gate way and northern OC cities seem problematic, as they seem to float on the periphery of LA, Long Beach, and the larger more centralized OC cities to the southeast. From a land use perspective, they seem really tough to reign into orbit via transit.
I'm intrigued by OC's BRT plans and am excited to see them implemented. I have not included them here however because I was focusing more on possible centralized, fixed rail solutions to shape OC's future growth. However, I do hope to take closer looks at OC's plans.
Thanks for your reading and your comments. More later.
Great stuff, John.
Certainly inspiration to any transit advocate.
John, when can we expect the OC line to connect to the Norwalk station? I live in Buena Park and take the Green Line to El Segundo from Norwalk. I'd like to just take it from Buena Park.
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