Things I'm thinking about transportation, Nov. 17

A few thoughts on getting around the Southland and elsewhere...

1. Someone needs to create a simple real-time Web page that immediately posts freeway closures. If I wanted to find out that the 57 was closed this weekend due to the brush fires, I would have had to go to the Caltrans road condition website and type in a road number to see its status. As I posted recently, Caltrans District 7 Director Doug Failing said the agency was looking at using Twitter updates to tell motorists about road closures. That's a fine idea, but a real-time Web page accessible to everyone would be great too.

2. I think it was a good call to cancel the Pasadena marathon due to the fires on Sunday. The air went from bad in the morning to worse by sunset on Sunday in Pasadena and temperatures were about 80 degrees by 9 a.m., when a lot of people would have still been running. The course was a tough one, too, with 1,009 feet of elevation gain.

3. Attentive readers may recall all those photos I posted over the summer of gas prices at the Chevron station at the corner of Hill and Colorado in Pasadena. Something I should have mentioned, but didn't: just across Colorado, the Pasadena Ford dealership also closed a few months ago. I had thought they moved. Turns out they were bought out by the parent company and closed, according to the Star News. A couple of Chrysler dealerships in the San Gabriel Valley have also gone under.

4. I think Pasadena will never get around to fixing the traffic signal at Chester and Del Mar. It frequently turns red even when there's no cross-traffic or pedestrians present. It's been that way for years.

5. iBART is the best transportation-related iPhone application I've seen. It provides maps, schedules and service updates for the BART rail system in the Bay Area. It's a freebie too.

6. From the Department of Reader Complaints, two criticisms:

    a. Complaint: I have yet to write a comprehensive story for the paper and website on the disputed safety issues along the Expo Line in South L.A. With my docket a little more clear now, I'm working on it.

    b. Complaint: I should have explained why public officials sought a sales tax hike in Los Angeles County for transportation needs instead of other types of funding. Answer: That's fair enough. As I explained often, state and federal funding is in short supply. The sales tax was sought because the other common alternative -- selling bonds -- runs up big-time debt that the Metropolitan Transit Authority would have had to pay back.

7. I think since I threw a major snit last week, the comment board is shaping up to be a better read now.

8. That was a very provocative editorial in The Times last week calling for Gov. Schwarzenegger to raise registration fees on vehicles. Also worth reading is an opinion piece by editorial board member Robert Greene, who last year wrote about Sacramento's shenanigans with the car tax.

9. I wish those dudes I saw racing on the 210 last week could go for a nice leisurely skate with the Kings' Dustin Brown. Here's some video.

10. Circling back to item #1, I think a freeway and road closure website would also be very useful for motorists heading into the mountains each winter. A few too many uncertain trips up and over Donner Pass in my 1993 Toyota Tercel is the exact reason I now own a Subaru Outback.

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[Dan H]

Every morning when I travel west on the 10 to Santa Monica I see about 15-20 empty red and orange buses traveling the other way with “NOT IN SERVICE” displayed. They are stuck in traffic with everyone else. I also see the Big Blue Bus #10 – going the other way and it is always filled – with people standing even. And when I head back in the evening - I see the same thing in reverse.

Why are the “NOT IN SERVICE” buses empty? Why can’t they at least take people with them or get off the freeway to reduce congestion? Since the empty buses are slow to accelerate and take up a lot of room - their removal at rush hour might actually improve things.

[Derek]

Google Maps has a traffic button that includes notices for traffic accidents and road construction. I'm not sure if road closures are a part of that, but it sounds like it would be the ideal site to house such information.

[rla]

There is already a good, free website that provides real-time traffic and road closure information: www.sigalert.com.

[Dana Gabbard]

Steve:

I'd love to see an interview with the Cheviot Hills NIMBYs
[http://www.cheviothills.org/] where you pin down just what their involvement with the South L.A. grade separation proceedings actually involves. Have they donated money to Citizens' Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line? Or provided advice and other assistance? Inquiring minds want to know. Maybe you can also ask Damien Goodmon what role if any they have played in his activities.

Regarding the sales tax you should contact the Self Help Counties Coalition. They can lay out just why this is the route all the urbanized counties in the state have followed to obtain locally controlled monies for transportation:
http://selfhelpcounties.org/