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| July 22, 2007 - July 28, 2007 »
 Officials are investigating the death of a man who either fell or leaped onto Red Line tracks:
Subway service that was delayed for most of the morning after a man was killed by a Metro subway train at the Westlake/MacArthur Park station returned to normal today. Subways at the station at 662 S. Alvarado St., where an unidentified male either fell or leaped from a platform in front of the train around 8:35 a.m., experienced 12-minute delays until 12:50 p.m., said Luis Inzunza, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The man’s death is still being investigated. "We don’t know if it was a suicide; that’s still under investigation," said MTA spokesman Marc Littman. Service on the westbound track was disrupted as authorities worked to remove the body from beneath the train. (CNS)
 The Times' Tiffany Hsu has more on the Dodgers' elaborate new traffic control center. The big question -- and the BB needs your opinion -- is whetehr it will actually ease congestion. (Photo is from opening day.)
With the partnership of KFWB News 980, the Department of Transportation, Caltrans and the Los Angeles Police Department, stadium officials hope to put fans’ focus on the games, not on the agony of getting to them. The hub will offer "the most updated and accurate information as they make their way to and from Dodger Stadium," Dodgers owner and Chairman Frank McCourt said in a statement. (Story continues below)
Continue reading "Home run for Dodgers traffic?" »
 The Dodgers have experienced their share of traffic woes this year, especially around opening day. Today the team announced a major new traffic-control system that includes high-tech links to Caltrans as well as live radio traffic reports. Details from Dodgers PR:
The hub, now in full operation, is located at the Stadium on the Club Level at the top of the escalators. The Dodgers created the facility in partnership with KFWB News 980, the Department of Transportation and Standard Parking. The Transportation Center is also connected to Caltrans and the Los Angeles Police Department to further ensure accuracy. "The Transportation Center at Dodger Stadium enables us to provide our fans with the most updated and accurate information as they make their way to and from Dodger Stadium," said Dodger Owner and Chairman Frank McCourt. "From this hub, we are able to connect and coordinate multiple transportation authorities and partners and provide a safer and more efficient parking system for all Dodger fans." As part of this system, all 255 acres of Dodger Stadium parking lots are monitored by cameras that provide a full view of all parking lot entrances and exits from multiple vantage points. KFWB traffic reporters now provide live traffic and parking updates via KFWB News 980 and Dodger Radio 1610 AM. KFWB News 980's Richard Turnage and Doug Dunlap provide stadium traffic reports prior to "Covering the Bases" and during "Covering the Bases" Turnage and Dunlap relate stadium traffic reports every 10 minutes.
 A few weeks ago, some men threw rocks off a Pomona freeway overpass, causing injuries. Now we have this case out of Canyon Country:
After weeks of investigation, three teenagers were taken into custody on suspicion of committing more than a dozen rock-throwing attacks in a Canyon Country neighborhood, sheriff’s officials said today. The juveniles allegedly lobbed rocks on at least 15 different occasions in the 25300 block of Camp Plenty Road. Several people reported being hit, but no one was seriously hurt. "These type of attacks can be particularly dangerous," said Sheriff’s Capt. Jacques A. La Berge. "One of the rocks narrowly missed striking a 2-week-old baby." The attacks began in May, and the suspects stepped up their activity in early July, according to Sgt. Darren Harris of the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station. The department’s Community Interaction Team conducted several covert operations involving bicycle patrols over the last several weeks in an effort to apprehend the perpetrators, he said. Deputies, including a team in a helicopter using infrared technology, took the suspects into custody last night, Harris said. (CNS)
 The Times' Rong-Gong Lin II reports that officials in the Inland Empire see a boom with Tuesday's opening of the 210 Freeway (and we don't mean more traffic):
Workers this week were still putting up signs and assembling guardrails that align the shoulders. Once the extension opens, the eight-lane freeway is expected to carry an average of 163,000 vehicles per day, up from the average of 132,000 vehicles per day now seen at the border of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Work began on the extension in 2003, and is mostly funded by San Bernardino County's half-cent-on-the-dollar transportation sales tax. Residents throughout western San Bernardino County have been longing for the opening for months. "I'm very excited. It's personally going to help me in my commute," said Fontana Mayor Mark Nuaimi, who commutes east to Colton, where he works as the assistant city manager. "It will finally complete the bridge between our west and east valleys." Nuaimi said he expected Fontana and surrounding communities to reap the benefits of the 210 Freeway extension. In 2002, officials completed a section of the 210 Freeway that connected his city to the San Gabriel Valley, which he credits with fueling an economic boom.
 New York was supposed to be the big first test of congestion pricing in America. But the idea of charging folks who drive into Manhattan proved highly controversial. And though there was a last-minute compromise, it looks like backers appear to have an uphill battle. Essentially, state officials created a commission:
State and city leaders yesterday struck a deal that resuscitates Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to use tolls to mitigate traffic gridlock and air pollution in Manhattan. While the agreement is short on specifics, it creates a commission to review the mayor's proposed legislation and apparently keeps New York City in the running for up to $500 million in federal grants, officials said. (Newsday)
 Save the date! The 210 Freeway extension from Rialto to San Bernardino will open Tuesday at 10 a.m. It's the last link of the freeway. Details:
San Bernardino Associated Governments and the California Department of Transportation will open the final 7.25 miles of State Route 210 to drivers through Rialto and San Bernardino on July 24 at 10 a.m. The new section of freeway will extend from Alder Avenue in Rialto to the connection with State Route 30 in San Bernardino. Construction has been underway on Route 210 since mid-2003, following the opening of the first 20-mile section of freeway in November 2002 between La Verne and Fontana. Costs for this last section through Rialto and San Bernardino total approximately $233 million. The freeway will include three travel lanes and a carpool lane in each direction and will feature onramps and offramps at Alder Avenue, Ayala Drive and Riverside Avenue in Rialto, as well as State Street in San Bernardino. Once the City of Rialto extends Pepper Avenue north to the freeway, onramps and offramps will be built at Pepper.
 A new report by an odd couple of sponsors finds there would be big environmental benefits if more people drove hybrids:
Plug-in hybrid cars would cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 500 million tons a year by 2050 without taxing the electric grid, according to a report issued Thursday by an unusual coalition of power companies, General Motors and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The study found that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs, using power primarily from the electric grid, would cut U.S. greenhouse vehicle gas emissions by 33% from today's levels. "There is no plausible future electric scenario where PHEVs do not return a significant carbon dioxide emissions benefit," according to the study, conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute, the research arm for electric utilities.
 Orange County officials this week fast-tracked five major freeway improvement projects, hoping to get work done on them ASAP, the O.C. Register says. They include some notorious bottlenecks: the 405 from Seal Beach to Costa Mesa and the 91 from Corona to Anaheim Hills.
Projects given high priority include adding: a northbound lane to the 57 freeway for much of the way between Lincoln Avenue and Lambert Road; lanes to the 91 between the 55 and 241 toll road; and lanes to the 91 eastbound between the 241 and 71 in Corona. The plan also would allow for improvements on the 405 Freeway, between the 55 and 605 freeways.
 There is at least one novel idea for reducing traffic for the big West Valley mall project. A people-mover system:
Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, a mass-transit advocacy group, suggested that the developers build a people mover, much like those used in some airports to carry travelers from the main building to outlying terminals. "It would be a smart way to get people from here to there," Reed said Wednesday, adding that a people mover would be more feasible than moving sidewalks or pedestrian bridges because of the distance involved. "They could even have carts on board to hold their packages."
Is a people mover a good idea? Would people use it?
 The shopping will be great. But how about the traffic? That's the question being asked as officials begin debating a plan for a mega-mall in Woodland Hills. The Times' Amanda Covarrubias says the combined Topanga mall will have 3.8 million square feet of retail, office and residential space:
"Critics will say, 'Traffic, traffic, traffic,' and I admit we need to address the issue," [Councilman Dennis] Zine said. "One of the major challenges is how we'll accommodate additional traffic volume." The new mall would include 4,100 parking spaces, but Westfield officials have not decided how they will connect the three malls so shoppers don't have to get in their car each time they want to go to a different mall. Preliminary plans call for the construction of pedestrian bridges to connect the three sites. The Westfield shopping hub is bounded by Vanowen Street on the north, Topanga Canyon Boulevard on the west, Oxnard Street to the south and Owensmouth Avenue to the east.
 Looks like the CHP is having trouble getting accident statistics right. And the head of the agency wants to do something about it:
The head of the California Highway Patrol said Wednesday that he wants to eliminate delays in reporting traffic fatalities after the agency reported that its initial figure on the number of deaths in 2006 was off by 290. "We’re looking at a variety of ways we can get more accurate information in a timely manner," Commissioner Mike Brown said in an interview with the Associated Press. "We need to have this information be very accurate, accessible and timely." The CHP said there were 4,197 traffic fatalities in the state last year, down 2.5% from 2005. Preliminary figures issued in March indicated a 9.2% drop. But Brown said after that was issued, the agency began to get reports of additional deaths from local law enforcement agencies and some CHP offices. "Thirty reports came from our own shop. That’s totally unacceptable," he said. (AP)
Heads up: A brush fire has some lanes closed on the 210 Freeway at La Tuna Canyon Road.
 We've been hearing this for a while. But now The Times' Gregory W. Griggs reports it's finally happening: Movement on widening the 101 Freeway through that notorious bottleneck at the Ventura-Santa Barbara counties line. It remains unclear exactly how much the project will unclog traffic (remember: there is a push for a parallel commuter rail line from Ventura to Santa Barbara):
To help ease congestion, Caltrans has committed more than $150 million to add carpool lanes along a busy stretch of the 101 Freeway in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Six miles of carpool lanes will be added in each direction from Mobil Pier Road in Ventura County to Casitas Pass Road in Santa Barbara County, said Caltrans spokeswoman Jeanne Bonfilio. The new lanes will link to a three-mile stretch of high-occupancy-vehicle lanes under development in Santa Barbara County, from the Ventura County line to Carpinteria. The funds are part of the first installment of a $19.9-billion transportation bond measure, Proposition 1B, approved by California voters in November. With no local sales tax for transportation projects, Ventura County is solely dependent on state money for such road improvements. "We are not unpleased with how we have done with the program," Ginger Gherardi, executive director of the county's Transportation Commission, said of the allocation.
 Sounds like the latest Hollywood mega-project has touched a nerve. The BB got many comments expressing concerns about gridlock, but also those predicting fewer problems than some expect. Some samples:
Slyvia S: Anyone who has been in Hollywood recently, even before all the construction that is in the works is completed, will know one thing. The traffic makes the place one thing to AVOID -- not visit. It will certainly double in the next 2-3 years, and you think that is going to make people come running to the area to live?
Josh Kamensky, communications director for Council President Eric Garcetti: As for 6200Hollywood, unreported on the blog or in the accompanying article was the $2-million commitment Council President Garcetti won from Clarett, the developer, to address mobility issues via the city's Hollywood mobility trust fund. Tenants will receive free MTA passes, and the developer has committed to car share, bike parking and providing incentives for retail employees and visitors to get out of their cars.
Jason: Los Angeles needs dense projects like this. The problem is, it also needs a major public transit network to support such an influx of new residents. We need a comprehensive plan that includes bold ideas like finishing the Purple Line, a Sunset Line, rail to Burbank, Glendale, LAX, etc.
What do you think?
 Be prepared, train riders. These are not panhandlers, but environmentalists who want to thank you for not driving your car to work:
A group of volunteers will be thanking rail-riding commuters who pass through Union Station in downtown Los Angeles tomorrow for their contribution to cleaning the air. From 4 to 5 p.m. tomorrow, passengers will be greeted by members of the Breathe L.A. street team, which encourages the use of public transportation as a mechanism for improving air quality in the Los Angeles Basin. The group has been promoting clean air and healthy lungs through research, education and technology since 1903, organizers said. The meet-and- greet tomorrow at Union Station is part of a new campaign called "Breathe a Moment." According to the organization’s website, more than 6,000 people die annually from air pollution in Los Angeles. (CNS)
 Another big development in Hollywood was approved today -- this one 1,000 rental units. Not surprisingly, city leaders are hailing it as another victory for Hollywood's rebirth. But as The Times' Sharon Bernstein recently reported, there are traffic problems that come with the buildup. Here are some details about the new project:
The complex would be the largest residential project among more than 2,500 upscale condominium and apartment units that have been built, are under construction or planned just on blocks around the famous intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. The $400-million development "continues the incredible momentum we have seen in Hollywood during the past five years," said City Councilman Eric Garcetti, who represents the area. "It's a picture of what the future of Hollywood will be as well."
The project is called Blvd6200 for its Hollywood Boulevard address. The council unanimously approved a zoning change that will allow construction to begin by early next year on the long-planned project on both sides of Hollywood Boulevard at Argyle Avenue east of Vine. It would also include shops and restaurants at street level.
What do you think? Hit COMMENT and speak out.
 Still no arrests in that bizarre case of the freeway shooting on the 710 last month. Hoping to boost interest, officials are offering a reward:
A $25,000 reward was announced today for information that helps track down the killer of a man who was gunned down as he changed a tire for his girlfriend on the Long Beach (710) Freeway. Michael Miller, a 25-year-old father of two, was shot "numerous times" about 10:20 p.m. June 12 at the side of the northbound 710 near 3rd Street, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported. He died at a hospital. The wanted man is described as Latino, in his mid-20s, about 5 feet 9 to 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing about 180 to 190 pounds. He had a "chalky" complexion. The man approached the couple that night and asked if they needed help, and when they declined his offer, he pulled out a handgun and shot Miller, the Sheriff’s Department said. The suspect drove off in a blue, early-1990s Nissan Altima that had tinted windows and no license plates. Sheriff Lee Baca appeared with Miller’s family members at a news conference to announce the reward and appeal for help in solving the crime. (CNS)
Looks like alcohol may have been involved in this bad accident: A suspected drunken driver and the driver of another vehicle were in critical condition today following a head-on traffic collision in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, authorities said. The accident occurred about 1:15 a.m. in the 800 block of North Vermont Avenue, said an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Traffic Division. A suspected drunken driver was going the wrong way on Vermont when he collided with another vehicle head-on, Los Angeles City Fire Battalion Chief John Vidovich told an On Scene Video camera crew at the scene. (CNS)
 Zach Behrens at LAist is into walking L.A. -- and has been tracking people who share his love. He found an interesting website, walkscore.com, that "calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. to help people find walkable places to live. Pretty awesome, right?" Zach then punched in one of his walks:
I've always prided myself on my part of Sherman Oaks and its walkability. Within a 10-minute walk radius I can walk to two bars, four restaurant bars (including Casa Vega!), Starbucks and two other coffee shops, plenty of restaurants (Thai, Lebanese, Mexican, pizza, Chicago hot dogs, Italian, etc.), a Metro Rapid stop (plus two other Ventura Boulevard bus lines and the Van Nuys/Studio City DASH), a theater, a comedy theater, dry cleaners, a yoga studio and random amenities such as the Psychic Eye Book Store. So what is my walk score? 66.
New York's plan to charge motorists driving into Manhattan looked dead. Now there is word from Fox 5 News that a deal has been worked out. Mayor Bloomberg's plan has become a test for whether serious "congestion pricing" will fly: Gov. Eliot Spitzer and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have a new tentative proposal for a Manhattan traffic congestion plan to pitch to the state Legislature. Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson says the governor and Bloomberg have a tentative agreement with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, but the new proposal must go to members of the Democratic-led Assembly before it is approved.
 Does L.A. already have congestion pricing? While the concept is going down in New York and getting little respect here, the WSJ notes that a form of the market pricing already exists at the port involving trucks:
The trend is a sign that increasingly choked highways and tight road-building budgets are forcing transportation planners to try some bold ideas. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to discourage drivers from entering parts of Manhattan by charging them $8 a day, with proceeds used to improve subways and buses. Ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., are giving cars more room during rush hours by charging trucks $100 extra for each cargo container picked up or delivered at the docks Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Is this a sign of the future when it comes to "congestion pricing" in L.A.? The Times' Steve Hymon reports that his idea of charging a toll on people driving into Los Angeles International Airport had a mixed reaction: The principal complaint about the plan was that toll booths probably would make the bad traffic on Century Boulevard even worse and unfairly punish people who have no other way to get to LAX. Some readers suggested that private vehicles aren't the problem. Tom Gilles, for example, pointed out that eight of the 12 vehicles shown in the photograph accompanying the story were the type of buses or shuttle vans that circle LAX endlessly while trolling for customers. On the other hand, not everyone thought a toll to enter LAX was ridiculous. The Times' Mitchell Landsberg, who is working in the newspaper's Beijing bureau this summer, e-mailed to say, "Beijing has done exactly what you're proposing — there's one road to the airport from the city, and there's a tollbooth 800 meters from the airport." The tollbooth was made to look like an ornate Chinese gateway and it costs 10 yuan — or about one U.S. dollar — to drive to the airport. Passengers also can take shuttle buses, and a light-rail line is being built to connect the city to the airport in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Buses are slowing beginning to roll again in Orange County after both the OCTA and unions passed the contract deal: Bus drivers overwhelmingly ratified a proposed contract with the Orange County Transportation Authority, a union representative announced, and the transit agency is expected to make its announcement about the pact later this morning. The vote was 696 in favor of ratifying the deal, with 35 people voting against it, said Patrick D. Kelly of the Teamsters. Sixty-seven percent of the union members voted, he said. (CNS)
How to pay for the Subway to the Sea? The Times' Ari M. Bloomekatz and Steve Hymon paint a dark picture, noting that internal polls by the mayor's office find a sales tax or bond measure not faring well. There are some other ideas to pay the $5-billion price: Midway through 2007 — with high turnouts expected for next year's presidential primary and general election — Villaraigosa has yet to produce a proposal to take to voters to help pay for the project. His aides say they are studying all possible scenarios. These include "benefit assessment districts" that would levy extra taxes on residents within half a mile of the subway line. Another idea is to find a private firm that could build and possibly operate the subway.
Still, some backers are a little worried: One vocal supporter of the subway is Jane Usher, president of the Los Angeles Planning Commission. Yet, Usher believes that the Westside line was closer to getting built when she worked as general counsel for Mayor Tom Bradley in the early '90s than now, when there is no consensus or funding plan in place. "I thought it was going to happen back then, and then I watched the dismantling of consensus in the 1990s and replaced with so much less than was promised," Usher said. "Building a rail line takes a consensus, and that consensus is bigger than the mayor, though I believe he can lead us in that direction — and I believe he is."
Meanwhile, there's a public meeting on the subway plan Tuesday (details below).
Continue reading "Subway to a sea of red?" »
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Officials are investigating the death of a man who either fell or leaped onto Red Line tracks:
