GETTING THERE FROM HERE-The transit/transportation advocates of Los Angeles County and the Southland are focusing on the unmet transportation needs we face after passage of Measure R. For those thinking of the next major Westside, Mid-City, Downtown or Eastside transit project, a LAX-to-Union-Station Rail Line via South LA, Southeastern Downtown LA and the Eastside is certainly something to explore for a potential "Measure R-2".
My last CityWatch article that raised the Metro Rail to River project, promoted by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Gloria Molina generated quite a few responses, so I felt that further elaboration was in order.
(This next article is dedicated to the late Dave Snowden, a true transit advocate and a fine man. He was a stalwart member of the Friends of the Green Line, and both a respected Vietnam veteran and someone who helped show us all about the potential of the Harbor Subdivision Right of Way--see maps below. Dave, your memory is cherished by all of us lucky to know you.)
As with the Expo Line Rail Right of Way (ROW) purchased by Metro--along with other ROW's purchased by Metro in the 1980's and 1990's--the Harbor Subdivision ROW was and is an enormous opportunity to provide an alternative connection between large segments of Los Angeles County often difficult to quickly and easily access via our road/freeway system.
In short, the Harbor Subdivision ROW, once owned by Burlington Northern/Santa Fe (BNSF), links the ports and the Downtown rail yards (not far from Union Station)...but is now unused because the Alameda Corridor Freight Railway provides a direct north-south rail link between those same ports and Downtown rail yards:
The Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line, bettered by a LAX Connect plan being explored and promoted by Mike Bonin, Eric Garcetti, the rest of the Metro Board and by LA World Airports, is really turning out to be a fine project. At this time, the Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line is the second great north-south passenger rail line (the first being the Blue Line) to be added to our growing Metro Rail network, and will link the Expo and Green Lines.
Unfortunately, the Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line used only part of the Metro-owned Harbor Subdivision Rail Right of Way (ROW), which was explored by the Metro planning team led by Roderick Diaz (Diaz now works for Metrolink, not Metro).
Roderick Diaz, Cory Zelmer and others had the rough, tough but necessary task of exploiting the most locally-desired and cost-effective uses of the Harbor Subdivision Rail ROW. They concluded and worked with the South Bay to determine that this ROW should be developed to extend the current South Bay portion of the Green Line (which is north-south, and will likely one day be part of the north-south Crenshaw/LAX Line) to Torrance.
For the most part, Diaz and Zelmer and their team had a roughly $5 billion list of several projects that had to be prioritized. The Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line was Metro's first priority, and has morphed up to $2 billion from its original $1.2 billion allocation--and a LAX Connect plan will get over $1 billion from LA World Airports, and possibly require Metro to pay up to half a billion more, if we connect that project to the LAX central terminals.
The $1 billion-plus South Bay Green Line Extension is a much lower priority of Metro, but is included in those projects funded by Measure R. If the Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line connects to LAX, it's likely that the South Bay will want "in" on being part of that line, and will fight for a Green-to-Crenshaw/LAX extension to Torrance (even more than they do now).
The Harbor Subdivision ROW was to be used between the South Bay portion of the Metro Green Line as part of the Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line up to its future Inglewood Station, before the Crenshaw/LAX Line leaves the Harbor Subdivision ROW to proceed north up Crenshaw Blvd. to the Exposition (Expo) Light Rail Line at Crenshaw/Exposition:
However, use of the predominantly north-south portion of the Harbor Subdivision between the South Bay and Inglewood for the Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line shouldn't preclude use of the rest of the Harbor Subdivision Right of Way from being used as well.
The Harbor Subdivision ROW is mostly an east-west configuration between Inglewood and the Downtown rail yards, although there is a sharp northward turn to Union Station; Union Station is northeast of "Downtown" proper.
The Harbor Subdivision ROW could, therefore, theoretically provided the straightest route to link the South L.A., Mid-City, Downtown, and Eastside regions to LAX.
The predominantly industrial regions of the western portion of the Eastside, and the southeastern portion of Downtown, through which the Harbor Subdivision ROW runs is both home to a vital segment of Southern California's economy, as well as a region that is garnering much interest as an undeveloped and undiscovered region that begs for both commercial and residential development.
There will be some who presume that this unused portion of the Harbor Subdivision ROW will neeeeeeeever become a rail line.
Hence the Rail to River project, which purportedly is to NOT prevent a future transportation/transit project on the unused portion of the Harbor Subdivision ROW, might be cynically viewed by some as to presume that we can only get a Bike/Parkway because it lacks a concurrent Major Investment Study to create a transit line on this unused portion of the Harbor Subdivision ROW.
Of course the Exposition Rail Right of Way, which paralleled the horrifically-congested I-10 freeway, once had the same dismissive presumption. There were lots of plans to convert it to a bikeway, a greenway, a busway, etc., but the grassroots Friends4Expo Transit held out for what it always should have been:
A Light Rail Transit (LRT) line that is now on its way to becoming a reality despite the many who presumed it would neeeeeeever happen a decade ago.
The grassroots Friends4Expo Transit knew that a bikeway, greenway, busway or whatever would pretty much be a one-way trip to a loss of that potential rail line, because the political, legal, economic and emotional spike strips that would prevent that bike/green/bus/whatever pathway from being torn out and converted to a rail line would be impossible to avoid.
Hence, Friends4Expo Transit and their political allies held out for a rail line, and is now seeing one built.
The Expo Bikeway was once proposed as a lead-in to the Expo Line, but is now being shunted to the side as the financial, engineering and legal issues surrounding the creation of the light rail line is forcing expectations of the Expo Bikeway to be sharply, SHARPLY reduced...much to the consternation of Friends4Expo Transit and the bicycling community...
...but it goes straight to the point that a bikeway, as much as I would LOVE to have a bikeway for South L.A. and southeastern Downtown L.A., probably would not so easily share space with a properly-engineered rail line that has to date NOT been sufficiently studied, evaluated and pursued by Metro planners.
Yes, east of the Inglewood station of the Crenshaw/LAX Line (which has just broken ground) is an ugly, blighted rail gathering rust and dust that is that old, unused Harbor Subdivision Rail Right of Way...and it needs better land use. And it should be remembered that Metro Policy states, as per this link.
"Construction of a bikeway and/or pedestrian path is prohibited unless the bikeway or pedestrian path is designed so that the sponsor can demonstrate that it will not have to be relocated or removed to allow for construction or operation of a future transportation project. The additional width of the right-of-way that is not being used for the bikeway/pedestrian facility may not be converted to a landscaped linear park."
As I stated in my last article, when the years of 2020-2022 arrive, when the Crenshaw/LAX and Downtown Light Rail Connector projects are completed, we'll realize two things (actually, a few of us realize it NOW):
1) The Expo Line, and the Crenshaw/LAX Line, and the lines to which they directly and indirectly connect, really have great potential to be very busy east-west and north-south conduits for commuter travel.
2) The Expo Line, and the Crenshaw/LAX Line, and the lines to which they directly and indirectly connect, do NOT do the job of directly connecting LAX with Union Station...or include the undeveloped regions of South LA and southeast portion of Downtown LA that cry out for residential and commercial development.
This Harbor Subdivision Rail Right of Way has already been studied by the California High Speed Rail Authority as a direct link between Union Station/High-Speed Rail, Metrolink, Metro Rail and LAX. High-speed trains, and Metrolink trains, were considered to use this line to connect to LAX, but this idea was dropped because of financial limitations of the High-Speed Rail Project.
So the precedent DOES exist to utilize this rail right of way to link LAX, the Mid-City, and Union Station via the southeast corner of Downtown that is--as of now--without any future links to our growing rail transportation network and which does suffer from neglect and gridlock.
So we have to achieve consensus and study the next generation of rail projects, such as the unused portion of that Harbor Subdivision ROW east of Inglewood right NOW...perhaps as part of the Rail to River project that addresses--and should highlight--this tragically-unexplored and often-forgotten gem of a potential rail line.
Let's pursue the Rail to River Project...but ONLY if it includes a Major Investment Study to explore this unused rail corridor as the next great Mid-City/Downtown rail line and transit corridor to achieve its complete and fullest potential.
As with the Expo Line, the Wilshire Subway, the Downtown Connector and Metro Rail to LAX, future generations will ask whether we had the foresight to utilize the ever-shrinking options we have to connect different regions of the City and County of Los Angeles.
Let's take on this challenge TODAY as the correct way to improve the Economy, Environment and Quality of Life for the future generations of TOMORROW.
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . He also does regular commentary on the Mark Isler Radio Show on AM 870, and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us . The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.) Photo credit: LA Streets Blog.
-cw
Tags: Ken Alpern, transportation, transit, Harbor Subdivision Rail, airport to downtown
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 14
Pub: Feb 18, 2014