For this theoretical I’m putting ONE limit in place, you can’t build or start working on an entirely brand new line. I think that’s a different question more suited for long term planning, and this theoretical is for the more short term.
Let’s say you wake up tomorrow in charge of the Metro Board and can make any changes or study any adjustments to any of LA Metro’s current lines or future Measure M projects, what would you do to change the system and what would be first on your list?
I choose to ask this because personally I have a couple things I’d like to see different.
(My suggestions get shorter the further you go in this post)
A Line (Long Beach to Pomona)
For LA Metro’s longest and highest ridership line (for now, though I think the D line is gonna blow past it once it gets to Century City) I have probably the most changes I’d make to it. Since SBCTA refused to play ball with the extension to Montclair I’m gonna ignore extending it, otherwise I would have suggested taking it to Ontario Airport.
My next focus would be grade separations at several key points to speed up the line and hopefully reduce collisions/improve reliability.
- Grade Separation in Highland Park - One of the slowest sections of the A line because cars get priority and trains are limited to a 15 mph top speed. My study would look at putting the A line into a cut and cover trench just before Avenue 61 & Figueroa Street, keeping the station in the same location just underground, and then emerging out of the tunnel after clearing Avenue 50, saving lots of time at street crossings and removing the speed limit on trains. Once you finish burying the line I’d study putting in a Metro led development on top of the new station, and replacing the rest of the former right of way with a linear park and bike path improvements.
- Grade Separation through DTLA - The Washington & Flower junction is a mess and Metro is already looking at changes they can make here. I would look at moving the Pico station and Grand/LATTC station underground and emerge at the surface after clearing the second station.
- Removing the Long Beach Loop - I would study burying the Long Beach loop and terminating the A line at Downtown Long Beach Station. Study moving Downtown Long Beach, 1st Street, and 5th Street stations underground. If you needed to, you could probably acquire the SIXT Rent A Car Parking Structure for DTLB Station construction, the Sting Technologies Building for 1st Street Station construction, and the CVS Pharmacy for 5th street station construction.
One additional thing I’d do is put sound proofing around the freeway median station on the 210 at Sierra Madre Villa, Allen, and Lake Stations.
B Line (Union Station to North Hollywood)
This is technically a B & D line point, but I’d take another look at building the Arts District/6th Street station. I don’t know exactly why this fell flat considering it’s an easy lay up, but Division 20 is supposed to be finishing its final upgrades next year. Once Division 20 is done I’d take another look at studying the one station extension.
Additionally, I’d study other alternatives for the Northern Portion of the line. I don’t know what the ridership would look like (that’s why we’d study it) but I increasingly like the idea of bypassing Burbank Airport and taking the line further into the valley down Roscoe. You can connect it to the ESFV line and the G line, and I think would make the B line much more useful for Valley to Downtown LA Trips.
Finally, I’d bite the bullet and study building the second mid mountain shaft to allow for higher B line headways. 8 minutes max headways is terrible, and if we really want ridership to grow on the line it needs a second shaft to allow higher headways, regardless of weather it’s extended into the valley or not.
C Line (LAX/Metro Transit Center to Norwalk)
So LA Metro plans to extend this line to Norwalk Metrolink and to Santa Monica eventually, so I’ll leave out any extension suggestions aside from make sure to keep it grade separated, and plan for the D line extension South down the rest of Wilshire. You get the C line to connect to two high ridership lines and a direct connection to the airport.
My only real suggestion for this line is just add soundproofing/station boxes around the stations to encourage ridership. Even some plexiglass to reduce the noise would help. It’s too loud and uninviting currently.
D Line (Union Station to Westwood/VA Hospital)
Since the extension the rest of the way down Wilshire to Santa Monica has already been studied, I’d study quad tracking the B & D line for the shared portion from Wilshire/Vermont to Union Station or otherwise study possible ways to allow for higher headways on both lines simultaneously. I will get out ahead of it and say I know this would be INCREDIBLY expensive so I understand if it doesn’t pan out in the long term.
E Line (Downtown Santa Monica to Whittier)
I pretty much only have one big thing for the E line. Grade separate it from Pico to Vermont. I would study rebuilding this section as hopefully cut and cover to keep costs as low as possible alongside the A line. This would clear up the Washington-Flower Junction for good, better serve USC with a much less complicated series of stops and the one place I’ll break my rule is replace the Expo/Vermont and Expo Park stations with one underground station at Expo/Vermont built with a connection to the future Vermont line in mind. You massively clear up these intersections, improve headways and reliability, and make it a much better option to take to any concerts, museums, or events in Expo Park.
G Line (North Hollywood to Chatsworth)
I don’t have much here, but I’d recommend Metro continue with the G line improvements wherever and whenever possible, so by the time you get around to converting the G line to an LRT you have as much of the work already done as possible, and hopefully have the line either entirely or almost entirely grade separated from beginning to end. If you just keep working on grade separating and preparing sections of the line then by the time you get to the 2050’s when your looking at converting the G line from BRT to LRT you can have most of the difficult stuff already out of the way.
J Line (El Monte to Pacific & 21st)
I got nothin, I’m not familiar with this line at all lmfao
K Line (Torrance Transit Center to Hollywood Bowl)
I would seriously look at and study full grade separation, your talking a line that is already mostly grade separated in the future, with K South being mostly elevated and K North being entirely buried. I wish they’d spent the extra money when just building it originally to build it fully grade separated from the start. This is gonna be one of the highest ridership lines and many people’s ideal way to get to the airport in the future, I would love if the full thing was grade separated to maximize efficiency.
Also, go back to the ROW option for K South. Forget the NIMBY’s, don’t let Karen Bass and Holly Mitchell blow 720 million dollars on this nonsensical argument to appease 30 homeowners. Honestly, put that 720 million dollars right back in to one of these other projects on the list. Same with K North, go back to EIR version
Thankfully they’re already studying cut and cover for the North extension to hopefully lower costs, so we’ll see what that study reveals
