The big question on all this development

Does building mega-projects on rail lines make a difference? L.A. will eventually know the answer. Consider this:

--The Grand Avenue project -- approved Monday with great fanfare -- is being hailed as a step forward in traffic planning because it's next to the Red Line subway.

--So is the proposed expansion of Universal City.

--And the Hollywood & Vine mixed-use project, where ground was broken on Monday.

--And the L.A. Live sports entertainment beamoth? Backers note it's near the Blue Line.

The Times Cara Mia DiMassa examined the convergence of development and found some critics raising concerns:

They worry that the sheer size of the projects — Grand Avenue's six skyscrapers, Universal City's 2,900 homes, and L.A. Live's huge shopping and entertainment venues — will overwhelm any small improvements made by increasing the number of people who use mass transit. That point was underscored in the environmental impact report for the Grand Avenue project, which found that the development could significantly worsen traffic in downtown — despite the fact that it would be built along the Red Line subway.

Back in December, the L.A. Weekly's David Zahniser wrote about the dubious claims being made about high-rise projects in Century City. One resident said it best: “They’re going to build 106 combined stories and it’s going to improve traffic? That doesn’t pass the smell test,” declared Mike Eveloff, president of the Tract 7260 Association. “They do this for every project, and what you end up with is huge amounts of traffic.”

What do you think? Comment below

Comments

[Richard]

Two relevant Op-ed pieces in the Los Angeles Times Current section of February 25, 2007 need to get a mention in Bottleneck Blog. “Give L.A. a free ride” by D. Malcolm Carson and “The Times rolls over for Grand Avenue pitchmen” by Joseph Mailander.

Mr. Carson proposes another ¼ percent sales tax to pay for free public buses. This would be on top of the one percent countywide sales tax already going to public transit. And where has the lion’s share of this one percent sales tax been going? Dare I mention the multibillion dollar, 17 mile, 16 stop -err- “station” Red Line Subway with it’s 120,000 daily boardings?

Now we see high density development schemes to go on top of the stations of this not very long subway. A means of justifying construction of the Red Line? Or maybe using Metrorail as an excuse to allow this sort of development? There’s already the Highland-Hollywood Complex. How has that been doing?

I dispute the notion that the Grand Avenue scheme is on “public” land as listed in the Los Angeles Times Current section. Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong, but I suspect the Grand Avenue scheme is going on property that was probably was seized by the CRA through eminent domain in the name of slum clearance of Bunker Hill during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Ernie Bernardi, where have you gone?

[Eric Mankin]

Another large in-fill development isn't mentioned here: Playa Vista.

Thousands of homes, hundreds of thousands of square feet commercial and residential, meaning tens of thousands of cars on the West side, approaching by roads (the 405, Lincoln Boulevard) already at or over capacity.

Nevethelss, no transit connection - not south, to the Green line & LAX; not north to Expo. Am I missing something here??

[Eric Mankin]

Another large in-fill development isn't mentioned here: Playa Vista.

Thousands of homes, hundreds of thousands of square feet commercial and residential, meaning tens of thousands of cars on the West side, approaching by roads (the 405, Lincoln Boulevard) already at or over capacity.

Nevethelss, no transit connection - not south, to the Green line & LAX; not north to Expo. Am I missing something here??

[Eugene E Jasper]

Why are we kidding ourselves?
Building freeways and adding lanes is an exercise in futility.

From the time that a new lane or freeway is proposed until it is actually built, enough addditional cars are sold or brought into the area to fill up that additional space and we are back to square one.

[nicholas simon]

if they are promoting the grand avenue project as benefitial to traffic planning. WHY WAS THE DOWNTOWN CONNECTOR NOT PART OF THE PLAN?

[Ken Weiner]

I welcome new development despite fears of increased traffic. I think that in order for alternative modes of transit (like walking, biking, and public transit) in LA to be given the proper attention, traffic will have to get a lot worse until driving is just unthinkable. Even with our ridiculous amount of traffic currently, it is often much faster to drive a car than to take a bus. Most people won't consider alternatives until they are faster than driving a car.