Talk -- but little action -- on Westside traffic

There was a talk about traffic at the Rand think tank last week that seems to have caught a good deal of attention. The Santa Monica Mirror highlights what was discussed and notes that a lot of people are talking about Westside traffic (and no one more that Steve Lopez, of course). But what is actually being done? Mmmm:

L.A. traffic seems to have replaced “the weather” in Mark Twain’s remark “Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.”  Last Thursday evening, July 26, over 200 people gathered for a Rand Policy Forum on “Gridlock in Los Angeles: Getting Past the Standstill” at the company’s Santa Monica headquarters.  The week before, the Westside Urban Forum assembled more than 85 for a July 20 Westwood breakfast discussion of “Does L.A. Have the Funding to End the Gridlock?” featuring SM City Councilmember Pam O’Connor, who this year chairs the Metro governing board.

Comments

[russell]

What a pathetic sight it is to see the window dressing being placed on the 405 freeway. There are already 10 lanes, and the narrowness of the gap seems to indicate a massive jam at the moment of completion. The surface streets will get even more traffic. Another obsolete solution before work is even halfway done. But they have to spend billions.

[anti-nimby]

I've lived on the west side for three years. I need to get to Wilshire/Vermont five days per week, about 8 miles away. When I lived closer to Westwood Village, I could take transit and get there and back in about 45 minutes per one-way trip. Driving takes about 35 in the morning, so I used to be able to pull it off. Now I live about a 1.5 miles from there and I have to take an extra bus that only comes once per half hour, if that, plus I have to get my son to school. If that second branch down Wilshire was more frequent and reliable, I would just time the infrequent bus better and cut my commute down to less than an hour.

I just got back from several days in Chicago. I stayed in a hotel near O'Hare. Even with slow zones on the blue line (which are being fixed over the next year), I could get downtown in rush hour as fast as it would take to drive, read the whole way, and not have to pay $30/day to park. There's something to be said for corrupt machine politics. At least the trains run on time.

[lsm]

The first three disillusioned respondents are dead on; our politicians have built no viable regional transportation system but only a dismal track record of expedient stop-gaps and aborted efforts. We have a County Supervisor who boasts, ".....none of the city officials would ever have initiated the proposal [to convert Pico/Olympic to one-way]. 'It's too controversial, but [as a county elected official] I have the absorption capacity -- a large enough constituency' to be able to get away with it." This bravado comes from a politician whose Prop A in 1998 "saved" us from the MTA Board's "plot" to build a Red Line.....while he served on the MTA Board. We have a US Representative who eased our gridlock by heroically stopping the Red (now Purple) Line at Western to prevent outside marauders from riding through methane fields to invade Hancock Park and Beverly Hills. We have a Governor and Legislature who sagely urged us to float massive bonds for vital transportation infrastructure and who then cynically played a bait-and-switch game by shifting this money to fill "holes" in the general budget. And we elected a Mayor who promised doggedly to drilling a Subway-to-the-Sea who then instead doggedly drilled something completely different. With our current transportation infrastucture failing to provide viable access to employment, shopping and entertainment; with it failing to allow for inevitable regional population growth; with it failing to keep us economically competitive with other regions and with it promoting air pollution and global warming; we rightly accuse our politicians of craven expediency.

We need, however, to acknowledge our own culpability. Our own chauvinism -- particularly neighborhood and transit chavinism -- has given us politicians who mirror us rather than lead us to where we wish to go.

First, our neighborhood chauvinism -- whether it snears about "crying a river...[for]...Westsiders [who] had their chance," or "the Westside [getting] exactly what it deserves" or whether it crows, "The Westside is the Manhattan of the West in terms of...importance to the world." -- ignores the fundamental reality that few of us live and work and play only in one neighborhood and completely misses that we all sink or swim with the economic viability not of our neighborhood but rather of our region. We are all tied together to metropolitan LA. Either we will get past myopically looking to build viable transit only in our "own" neighborhood while sticking it to "other" neighborhoods or we will choke together in an increasingly untenable region.

Secondly, our transit chauvinism -- when it claims developing one modality (such as subways) must rob from other modalities (such as buses) -- ducks our vital need to fund a workable, integrated transportation system by pretending ill-advised squabbles over divvying up inadequate funds between inadequate modalities will improve anything. To maintain our regional quality of life as well as economic viability, we need additional automobile infrastructure in sparsely populated areas which are not yet dense enough to support viable mass-transit, we need grade-separated mass-transit in the Wilshire corridor which can support neither additional automobile nor bus traffic on surface streets and we need additional bus and light rail service in most areas where surface capacity can carry additional mass-transit vehicles but current sporadic service deters use except by those with no automotive alternative. Failing to build any of these necessary and complimentary modalities will only ensure none of them (no matter how lavishly funded) will work across our region. Admittedly, building this vital, multi-modality transportation system will be staggeringly expensive. Any city which built a staggeringly expensive artificial water supply and a staggeringly expensive artificial harbor should understand, however, building expensive but vital infrastructure pays massive dividends over generations.

We can all decry our politicians' cowardice. Until we agree we rise or fall not as neighborhoods but rather as a region and until we appreciate we must spend many pennies on infrastructure to avoid losing many more pounds of quality of life and economic viability, however, our politicians will willingly continue to pander to our short-sightedness.

[lsm]

The first three disillusioned respondents are dead on; our politicians have built no viable regional transportation system but only a dismal track record of expedient stop-gaps and aborted efforts. We have a County Supervisor who boasts, ".....none of the city officials would ever have initiated the proposal [to convert Pico/Olympic to one-way]. 'It's too controversial, but [as a county elected official] I have the absorption capacity -- a large enough constituency' to be able to get away with it." This bravado comes from a politician whose Prop A in 1998 "saved" us from the MTA Board's "plot" to build a Red Line.....while he served on the MTA Board. We have a US Representative who eased our gridlock by heroically stopping the Red (now Purple) Line at Western to prevent outside marauders from riding through methane fields to invade Hancock Park and Beverly Hills. We have a Governor and Legislature who sagely urged us to float massive bonds for vital transportation infrastructure and who then cynically played a bait-and-switch game by shifting this money to fill "holes" in the general budget. And we elected a Mayor who promised doggedly to drilling a Subway-to-the-Sea who then instead doggedly drilled something completely different. With our current transportation infrastucture failing to provide viable access to employment, shopping and entertainment; with it failing to allow for inevitable regional population growth; with it failing to keep us economically competitive with other regions and with it promoting air pollution and global warming; we rightly accuse our politicians of craven expediency.

We need, however, to acknowledge our own culpability. Our own chauvinism -- particularly neighborhood and transit chavinism -- has given us politicians who mirror us rather than lead us to where we wish to go.

First, our neighborhood chauvinism -- whether it snears about "crying a river...[for]...Westsiders [who] had their chance," or "the Westside [getting] exactly what it deserves" or whether it crows, "The Westside is the Manhattan of the West in terms of...importance to the world." -- ignores the fundamental reality that few of us live and work and play only in one neighborhood and completely misses that we all sink or swim with the economic viability not of our neighborhood but rather of our region. We are all tied together to metropolitan LA. Either we will get past myopically looking to build viable transit only in our "own" neighborhood while sticking it to "other" neighborhoods or we will choke together in an increasingly untenable region.

Secondly, our transit chauvinism -- when it claims developing one modality (such as subways) must rob from other modalities (such as buses) -- ducks our vital need to fund a workable, integrated transportation system by pretending ill-advised squabbles over divvying up inadequate funds between inadequate modalities will improve anything. To maintain our regional quality of life as well as economic viability, we need additional automobile infrastructure in sparsely populated areas which are not yet dense enough to support viable mass-transit, we need grade-separated mass-transit in the Wilshire corridor which can support neither additional automobile nor bus traffic on surface streets and we need additional bus and light rail service in most areas where surface capacity can carry additional mass-transit vehicles but current sporadic service deters use except by those with no automotive alternative. Failing to build any of these necessary and complimentary modalities will only ensure none of them (no matter how lavishly funded) will work across our region. Admittedly, building this vital, multi-modality transportation system will be staggeringly expensive. Any city which built a staggeringly expensive artificial water supply and a staggeringly expensive artificial harbor should understand, however, building expensive but vital infrastructure pays massive dividends over generations.

We can all decry our politicians' cowardice. Until we agree we rise or fall not as neighborhoods but rather as a region and until we appreciate we must spend many pennies on infrastructure to avoid losing many more pounds of quality of life and economic viability, however, our politicians will willingly continue to pander to our short-sightedness.

[Dan W]

The Westside has passed a tipping point. When Beverly Hills has a working groups discuss the ideal places for subway stops in the city, you know the Earth has moved. For years, it seems much of the old guard Westsiders were afraid of "those people" coming to their neighborhoods by rail and the lowering of their property values. However, congestion got so bad, it kept out their customers and kept them stuck in their own neighborhoods.

Now there is a clamoring for rail options. If it hadn't been for Waxman and Yaroslovsky we might have the Purple Line and Expo Line already. But, they've come around thankfully.

One rail line won't solve every problem, but the Purple Line will transform the area. 4 lines area really needed - finishing the Expo Line, finishing the Purple Line through Century City off to Santa Monica, a connector from Hollywood to Century City via Santa Monica Blvd., and a line from LAX, up the westside, through/over the Sepulveda Pass into the Valley.

However, let's not underestimate how much bus service has improved. The Rapid Bus Lines are very helpful. Wilshire Blvd. even has a rapid line for rapid line.

The real issue now isn't a general hostility to rail, which is now generally welcome.

The big obstacles now are little parochial interests that stand in the way of better transit for the whole region.

On one hand Councilman Rosendahl says we need to invest $100 billion in creating a transit system, but then seeks repeal of the Bus only Lanes on Wilshire Blvd. because a few business owners didn't like them, under the guise of not having bus lanes there until they are everywhere. (This may be the one and only area where I agree with the misguided Bus Riders Union -- the need for Bus Only lanes on major thoroughfares like Wilshire, Santa Monica Bvld., etc.)

The Cheviot Hills old guard still fears how the Expo lines will effect their neighborhoods, when experience shows it will increase property values to have a rail stop here.

Various people fear one-way streets on Pico/Olympic for their own small reasons.

But as a whole, the Westside has changed. What we need right now are political leaders with courage to stand up ot these parochial interests to do what needs to be done.

As for those four rail projects I mentiond, the most important of them is the Purple Line to Century City, Westwood and Santa Monica. That won't solve everything, but will transform the way the westside is development and organized.

But the tipping point has happened. There is willingness now that there wasn't 10 or 20 years ago.

The glory age of the idea and sense of entitlement to a Los Angeles where people drove their single-occupancy vehicles where and when they want, with affordable parking and gasoline, and minimal congestion is slowly on the way out. Many will go kicking and screaming into the future, but they can't stop it.

[traffic_realist]

Want people to drive less? Just make it cost more. Higher gas taxes, congestion pricing on the highways, and higher parking fees all in concert will do the trick.

Want less congestion without raising the cost of driving? Good luck, ain't gonna happen.

[K]

Tom says:

"The Westside of Los Angeles is the Manhattan of the West Coast in terms of affluence and culture..."

A perfect representation of the Westside attitude !

It's not just the traffic :-)

[Ernie]

"The Westside of Los Angeles is the Manhattan of the West Coast in terms of affluence and culture and importance to the world."

Only to the people who live there. There are much more affluent, less nouveau-riche areas in LA County, e.g., San Marino, and plenty of culture (SGV Asian, Latino, etc.) elsewhere. That being said, itoo bad westsiders blew it when they had the chance to have the Red Line go all the way down Wilshire. Now all they can do is whine about it.

[Tom]

Ernie and all,

The subway to the sea would have been nice, but it would have had a very small impact on overall traffic in the area. There are just too many hundreds of thousdands of people driving in from the outlying areas. The Westside of Los Angeles is the Manhattan of the West Coast in terms of affluence and culture and importance to the world. NY has a top notch subway and its congestion and traffic rival Los Angeles. One small difference I suppose is that one can live in Manhattan and travel around Manhattan with relative ease. Us Westsiders don't really have that option. However, a single subway line wouldn't have made much of a difference at all.

Yes the traffic stinks and I will continue to complain even though there is no hope of it getting any better. However I also know, it is a small price to live and play in this Manhattan urbanity meets Eden beauty part of the world.

[sam i am]

Ernie-

we all suffer from LA not having a rail network that hits every part of the city grid. I live on the eastside, and do not see any other viable alternative to getting behind the wheel because there are no rail lines going to regions of the city I travel to. If a grade separated double tracked rail line was built to this region I'll gladly leave my car at home.

[mike]

Jason is right nothing can be done about traffic. It will continue to be bad and may get a lot worse. However, you can change whether you have alternatives to sitting in that awful traffic. Sadly at the moment there are not viable alternative to most people. This should be the focus. All this being said the Westside has gotten exactly what it deserves for opposing the subway and thinking that they are still a suburb. Who builds really really dense office buildings right next to single family homes and is suprised at how awful the traffic is but insists that those single famlily homes be preserved making it virtually impossible for most people to live anywhere near their place of emplyment.

[Samuel]

Only 20% of trips are commuting?? What are all these people doing driving around? It's insane.

I figured the traffic was so bad because drivers were commuting to and from work.

[TrafficBulldog]

I could fix it.

All I need is $1million and 2 years.

And if at the end of 2 years it is not fixed, I will return the money.

Cheers,

http://trafficbulldog.org is a commuter advocacy group focused on the central conflict of interest that keeps our freeways clogged.

[Jason]

Nothing can be done long-term about congestion because reducing it encourages people to drive. If anything could be done, it would have happened already. The only option is for individuals to find an alternative to driving.

[Ernie]

Well cry me a river. Westsiders had their chance when the original Red Line was supposed to go all the way to the end of Wilshire but they blew it due to NIMBYism. I have no sympathy whatsoever for their current traffic woes.

[Ken Alpern]

Clearly, the prioritization of transportation--by both political parties--appears to be a mile wide but an inch deep. There's a few standouts, but overall it appears that transportation--especially urban transportation--appears to be the lowest of the priorities in either Sacramento or Washington.

[Bart Reed]

Well, Arnold has decided that ALL public transit in California should be destroyed, so, there is now a new website to honor him:

www.governorgridlock.com

What a legacy this man has left us!

[sam i am]

Yeah! I'm a little disillusioned with the politicians at this point. They all talk about there being a transit problem, but when it comes to protecting voter approved transit funds I do not see effective actions being taken by them. At this point I think the gas tax should be repealed and a new one put in place that is protected from this continual raiding of it to balance the checkbook. I'm not gonna believe any of this till I see committed funds, and shovels in the ground.