Subway to the Sea: Badge of honor

Not sure this gets L.A. any closer to the $6-billion price tag. But blogger the Overhead Wire is encouraging bloggers who support the Subway to the Sea to post this badge of honor (above):

In an earlier post I discussed blog support badges and listed some I'd like to see. I created one for the Subway to the Sea for kicks. Feel free to use it.

The BB isn't taking sides. But it will be interesting to see how many bloggers take up this cause.

Via Curbed LA

Comments

[Dan W.]

"The subway to the sea is a single bet. "

No, it's not. No one has stated it is the solution to all of Los Angeles Transportation needs or that it is the only thing the MTA should be building.

It is, however, the vital spine to a public transit system. It's expensive, but it's needed. However, we could have built many subways to the sea for what we are flushing down the sewer in the unnecessary War in Iraq .

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"We need to accommodate more cars, since more are coming regardless of mass transit fantasies"

NO. The REAL fantasy is that Los Angeles' car culture is sustainable either economically and environmentally. I agree that more are coming regardless of whether we build a viable mass transit system. But, public transit isn't just about reducing congestion. It's a realization that the car culture as we have known it is unsustainable and alternatives need to be created. Those cars are coming. The ONLY question on offer is whether we will have enough alternatives to keep Los Angeles economically and environmentally sustainable. The Purple Line extension along Wilshire Blvd. is the expensive, but vital part of that. Ever-worsening congestion will happen regardless of whether any mass transit improvements are made.

Many of Phil's suggestions are good ones. However, even if they were all implemented, congestion will still get worse because of the sheer number of people who will migrate here over the next few decades -- the car culture will still unravel at the seams -- hence NBC/Universal's decision to relocate TO the Red Line.

Sitting in ever-worsening congestion, hoping there is some road-based, automobile-based solution to freeing the bottlenecks IS the fantasy. Sorry to break the news to you.

[Phil]

The subway to the sea is a single bet. Not smart. We need logical mass transit connections combined with pervasive road improvements. Cheaper surface rail (regardless of technology) + more Orange Line-type bus corridors + repaving of streets, freeways + massive parking garage construction programs to replace key corridor on-street parking + rational elimination of some freeway on/off-ramps + citywide intelligent management of traffic light sequencing. We need to accommodate more cars, since more are coming regardless of mass transit fantasies, and we need to rapidly and cheaply expand local mass transit options to create practical alternatives where possible.

$6B for merely a single corridor displaces too many options. We need a mix, and we need to be working on that mix now. Moreover, the lift to jobs will keep LA humming. Subway-to-the-sea is a boondoggle that will have only very minor impact on traffic and congestion.

[John G]

If public transportation is to have any chance of reducing traffic congestion, we must quit spending money on adding lanes to freeways and other roadway improvements and spend the money on public transportation. Right now, the subways, busways and light rail are providing needed mobility to those who have no car, thus no cars are off the freeway.

[LyleW]

The upcoming depression is going to solve a lot of Los Angeles's traffic problems.

[Dan W.]

Maglev is the preferred transportation alternative for people who's sole experience with mass transit is the Disneyland monorail.

We need a SUBWAY -- the Purple Line - from Wilshire/Western to the ocean via a spur into Century City. Period. And we need to build it now.

And, it's not 2030 for LaCienega/Wilshire. The MTA hasn't even released its new draft Long-Term Transportation Plan, which doesn't comes out next month anyway.

If the MTA wants to "try" Maglev, then build a rail link from LAX north above/through the Sepulveda Pass up to Metrolink. That's a corridor with no current rail plans and endless demand every commute.

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And what's with the Bottleneck Block remaining "neutral" on the Subway to the Sea?

There is no automobile-based, road-based solution to the transportation problems we need to solve in order to keep Los Angeles economically and environmentally sustainable.

People who live in Hancock Park and Windsor Square who still delude themselves that they live in Sam Yorty's Los Angeles and/or in a suburb need a reality check. You don't.

Expanding the 10-freeway and building other roads only adds the number of cars and add to all of our existing problems on surface streets.

Bus-only lanes, while necessary, will still involve buses weaving in and out of them as express/rapid buses pass local buses. Congestion will continue to get worse.

Forcing people to transfer to another mode of transit (i.e. monorail or light-rail at Wilshire/Western will reduce ridership on the whole line.

If someone wants to try a Maglev line, fine, try it. Somewhere else.

But there is no "cheap" shortcut or alternative to finishing the Purple Line under Wilshire Blvd. to the sea, underground, and the Bottleneck Blog should proudly wear that symbol on its site.

[Dan W.]

Maglev is the preferred transportation alternative for people who's sole experience with mass transit is the Disneyland monorail.

We need a SUBWAY -- the Purple Line - from Wilshire/Western to the ocean via a spur into Century City. Period. And we need to build it now.

And, it's not 2030 for LaCienega/Wilshire. The MTA hasn't even released its new draft Long-Term Transportation Plan, which doesn't comes out next month anyway.

If the MTA wants to "try" Maglev, then build a rail link from LAX north above/through the Sepulveda Pass up to Metrolink. That's a corridor with no current rail plans and endless demand every commute.

-----------------

And what's with the Bottleneck Block remaining "neutral" on the Subway to the Sea?

There is no automobile-based, road-based solution to the transportation problems we need to solve in order to keep Los Angeles economically and environmentally sustainable.

People who live in Hancock Park and Windsor Square who still delude themselves that they live in Sam Yorty's Los Angeles and/or in a suburb need a reality check. You don't.

Expanding the 10-freeway and building other roads only adds the number of cars and add to all of our existing problems on surface streets.

Bus-only lanes, while necessary, will still involve buses weaving in and out of them as express/rapid buses pass local buses. Congestion will continue to get worse.

Forcing people to transfer to another mode of transit (i.e. monorail or light-rail at Wilshire/Western will reduce ridership on the whole line.

If someone wants to try a Maglev line, fine, try it. Somewhere else.

But there is no "cheap" shortcut or alternative to finishing the Purple Line under Wilshire Blvd. to the sea, underground, and the Bottleneck Blog should proudly wear that symbol on its site.

[jay handal]

Unfortunatalt, the SUbwat to the sea, which became the subway towards the sea, whyich is now the wilshire corridor transportation plan-which is bewing discussed running down Santa Monica Boulevard in some areas, is nothing more than a pipe dream. The current Metro long range plan is to extend the wilshire subway to La Cienega by the year 2030. That helps nobody at all. The Mayor continues to push this dream. How about a reality check. If the current price tag for tis short extension is 7 Billioin Dollars, how about doiing a real study of a mag lev system on Pico from the ocean to Union Station, which by esxtimates would cost less than 2 Billion and be completed in 5 years. Now that would have a real benefit.......