Los Angeles is known as THE car-centric, traffic snarled city. But if you’ve ever been in a car in New York City, you know that traffic there’s really, really bad too. So why aren’t New Yorkers constantly complaining about their horrific traffic? Because they don’t have to deal with it — they’ve got a great subway system and a newly expanded bike network too!
That’s why the news that building L.A.’s Subway to the Sea would only relieve traffic congestion by 1 percent doesn’t disappoint me at all. Once that subway gets built, it’s bye-bye to fighting traffic — and hello to hopping on a subway train that’ll get me from Union Station to UCLA — in just 25 minutes.
The 1 percent statistic was announced as part of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/ Environmental Impact Report for the Westside Subway Extension — or to put it in layperson’s terms, a draft study of how extending the Purple Line down Wilshire (and perhaps the Red Line through West Hollywood and Beverly Hills too) all the way to the beach would affect the city.
Even if you’re a diehard driver, there are good selfish reasons to support the Westside Subway Extension. Think a 1 percent improvement’s too measly an improvement to be worth pursuing? Zach Behrens at LAist points out that without the subway, traffic will get a whole lot worse instead of very slightly better: “Population growth means more vehicles on the road. Metro estimates about a 26% increase in daily vehicle miles traveled within the westside subway extension area.”
Ready to start riding the subway? Well, it’ll be a little while. Steve Hymon at Metro’s The Source blog spells out just how long you may have to wait:
Under the long-range plan adopted by the Board of Directors of Metro last year, the subway would reach Fairfax by 2019, Century City by 2026 and Westwood by 2036 using a combination of Measure R sales tax money and federal funds. Why so long? Because the subway to Westwood is expected to cost about $4 billion and sales tax money flows into local coffers over time — not all at once. Measure R funds also have to fund a plethora of other projects promised to county voters.
However, there is a plan to speed up construction of the subway. The 30/10 Initiative being pursued by Metro — and backed by many other politicians, environmental, business and labor groups — would use federal loans and other financing to try to build 12 Measure R transit projects in the next 10 years. So there’s hope.
Want to help get the subway built sooner rather than later? Then you’ve got to get involved with making the Westside Subway Extension a reality. Read the executive summary of the draft EIR (PDF) — or if that 64-page PDF is just too painful, read Steve’s quick bullet points about the report at The Source.
Then get thee to one of the public meetings about the draft EIR! Those will happen from 6 pm – 8 pm on:
>> Mon., Sep. 20, LACMA West – Terrace Room, 5th Fl., 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
>> Tue., Sep. 21, Westwood United Methodist Church – Fellowship Hall, 3rd Fl., 10497 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
>> Wed., Sep. 22, Plummer Park – Community Center, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.
>> Mon., Sep. 27, Roxbury Park – Auditorium, 471 S Roxbury Dr., Beverly Hills.
>> Wed., Sep. 29, Santa Monica Main Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica.
After Metro collects feedback until Oct. 18, Metro officials will select a route for construction on Oct. 28 — after which will come a final environmental impact report, followed by actual action to start building the subway (the process is more complicated than I’ve made it sound; see page 2 of the executive summary for the wonky details).
Earlier: Find out what the Subway to the Sea stations near you will look like
Images via Metro
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