Streetsblog Los Angeles

For months, the idea of “privacy screens” has been bandied about at meetings of the Expo Construction Authority Board of Directors but few took the idea that anyone would place large screens on top of the soundwalls adjacent to the line seriously.  However, at last week’s meeting of the Expo Board of Directors, Board Member and newly-minted L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson seemed to take the idea very seriously.

“I want to get it done,” Wesson argued.  While staff ultimately agreed to comply, they raised questions about whether they would need to raise the screens for the entire route and where funding would come from.

“These screens can be placed on top of the soundwalls to address concerns about privacy issues for homes immediately adjacent to the ROW,” explains Construction Authority spokesperson Gabriela Collins.  ”These are not included as part of the baseline project and are not required by the environmental document.  We have done some preliminary design work to ascertain the cost and whether or not the screens could be added to the soundwalls, but have no designs at this time.”

Even with Wesson’s backing, there are two reasons that the addition of these soundwalls is a long shot.

The first is politics.  With the handoff of Phase I of the Expo Line from the Construction Authority who built the line to Metro who will run the line, it would take a vote of both the Expo Board and the Metro Board to approve such a project.

Even with enough votes rounded up to pass the proposal, there is still no money to pay for these “privacy screens” and there’s no obvious third party that would be interested in providing such funds.

The other reason that the screens are a long shot is that even if the political will and funding were available, adding the screens doesn’t make a lot of sense. Read more…

LADOT Environmental Documents for Expo Phase II Bikeway

What a difference a few weeks make.

Before the Thanksgiving break, Streetsblog reported on how many Westside bicyclists were concerned about bike planning for Phase II of the Expo Line.  While planning for the second phase of the light rail portion of the Expo Light Rail project is nearly 60% complete, the bicycle planning hasn’t really begun.   One of the main reasons for the delay is that Caltrans had not certified environmental documents needed before the bike planning could begin.  To make matters worse, the Culver City Bicycle Coalition complained that a planned bike-transit center for the Culver City station seemed to be dropped from the plans.

But much of that has changed.  Caltrans has granted the Categorical Exclusion (CE) needed for bikeay construction to begin, a prerequisite for the Expo Construction Authority to begin planning the bikeway.  The Authority also announced that it will soon create a long-promised bicycle advisory committee to help with the bicycle plans for Phase II.

To top it all off, a bike parking plan for the Culver City Station was presented, although advocates want to see a greater commitment to bring a bike-transit facility to Culver City.

“Both the City of Los Angeles and City of Santa Monica have obtained environmental clearance for the bikeway project,” begins Gabriela Collins, spokesperson for the Expo Construction Authority.  ”Once the funding from both cities comes through, Expo plans to contract the bikeway design and construction to Skanska Rados, a Joint Venture, the current design-build contractor for the guideway.  The Bicycle Advisory Committee will be brought to the Expo Board for approval at that time.”

While many bike advocates cheered the news that the CE has been finalized, there are still some lingering concerns that the Expo Construction Authority wasted time waiting for environmental clearances for bikeways while the rail project planning moved forward.

“The bikeway was inevitable, so it is unfortunate that preliminary engineering of the bikeway was not done at the same time,” says Jonathan Weiss, a member of the City of Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee.  ”How many bikeway options have been foreclosed because of this avoidable delay?  Thankfully, the City of L.A. has ramped up its support and unstuck the bikeway design.”

Federal funding for the bikeway project has already been guaranteed, so it would seem that the bikeway project could finally be moving forward.  However, there’s still one more hurdle that could be placed in front of the Bikeway.  There’s no guarantee that the group of homeowners that have sued to stall the bike project thus far could bring suit against the new CE as well.

Meanwhile in Culver City, a small campaign to urge the Construction Authority to bring a bike plan to the Culver City Expo stop has met with success. Read more…

It’s been a year since a group of Westside homeowners filed a lawsuit against the Expo Bike Path that would run adjacent to the rail line through the Westside into Santa Monica.  The homeowners alleged that the categorical exclusion (CE) granted to the bikeway (a technical term meaning that only a partial environmental review is necessary) by Caltrans was wrongly granted.  In response, Caltrans pulled the CE and the city went back to the drawing board. The bikeway opponents declared victory and bike advocates fumed.

One year later, the story hasn’t changed much.  The city is still involved in a back and forth with Caltrans over the city’s efforts to get an ironclad CE from Caltrans, but at this point there is no time frame for the documents to be approved.  A pair of anonymous sources has confirmed that Caltrans won’t issue it until legal issues with the local homeowners are resolved.

Needless to say, there is no timeline for that, either.

So while no timeline is in place for environmental approval of the bike path nor a timeline to hire a contractor to design it, ground has broken for Phase II of the Expo Line and the bike path remains in limbo.

“For some agencies, this is the old story about cycling being an afterthought,” fumes Jonathan Weiss, a member of the city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee.

Perhaps even worse than the delay is that decisions are being made on the design of Phase II routing, crossings, and stations without bicyclists input.  Despite Expo CEO James Thorpe’s promise to Westside Councilman and Expo Construction Authority Board Member, Bill Rosendahl, that a bicycle advisory committee would be formed, none has.  Expo staff say that the committee will be formed when a contractor is brought on for bikeway design, but with design and construction work underway now for the light rail line, it seems as though cyclist input could be useful. Read more…

Earlier today, the California Public Utilities Commission gave the green light to proceed with construction of Phase II of the Expo Line.  CPUC was widely expected to delay their decision on whether or not the rail/road crossings for Phase II were safe enough and that they wouldn’t cause excess pollution by creating traffic delay.  In a surprise move, CPUC unanimously approved the crossings after Commissioner Timothy Alan Simon removed a “hold” he had placed on the crossing vote.

Even though CPUC is supposed to look at projects on their merit and not consider politics, both opponents and supporters of the Expo Line were lobbying the Commissioners.  The Transit Coalition published a draft letter urging Commissioners to ignore letters by opponents.  At the same time, the Expo Construction Authority itself sponsored a letter writing campaign urging the commission to approve the crossings.

A coalition of community leaders calling themselves Neighbors for Smart Rail were urging the Commission to hold off on an approval vote until they’re appeal of the Expo Phase II environmental documents could be heard.  Their lobbying effort fell short. Read more…

The Expo Construction Authority is anxious to stop history from repeating itself.

When clearances for the first phase of the Expo Line appeared all but certain, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), a regulatory agency which regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies, threw them a curve ball.  The last government body to look over the environmental documents for Phase I, CPUC ordered substantial new reviews of two rail crossings which led to an additional rail station at Farmdale Avenue near Dorsey High School and a pedestrian bridge elsewhere.  The new studies were championed by the Fix Expo campaign which compiled a large technical comments document and produced hundreds of letters of concern.

“The Westside of Los Angeles has waited too long for the arrival of mass transit and the community wants an alternative to the gridlock and congestion of the I-10 freeway,” writes Gabriela Collins of the Expo Construction Authority.   “CPUC approval of the Resolution on November 10, 2011 is an important step in keeping this project on track.”

As Expo Phase II heads towards its date with CPUC on November 10, the Expo Construction Authority has set up a website for people to easily send comments to the Commission.  Comments are due on Friday of this week, but supporters of the project won’t have to comb through the environmental documents themselves, the Expo Construction Authority has already written the support letter outlining the clearances that the rail crossings have already earned and the outreach that Expo has done on Phase II.  You can read the letter and submit it to CPUC if you wish by clicking here.

For it’s part, the Authority believes that Expo Phase II deserves quick apporval from CPUC.   Read more…

As promised, Neighbors for Smart Rail (NFSR) is appealing the decision of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Thomas McKnew to dismiss their lawsuit alleging that the Expo Construction Authority violated state environmental law when doing their studies of the future light rail lines route.  The appeal was filed nearly two weeks ago, on September 15, to the California Court of Appeals

“NFSR is looking to prevent West L.A. gridlock by protecting access to the 10 freeway through West L.A.,” writes president Terri Tippett in a press statement.  ”Trains blocking Overland and Westwood 24 times per hour will have a devastating impact on the existing area traffic, and all evidence shows that Expo didn’t properly study it.”

At first glance, their legal filings don’t appear to be much different in substance than the arguments McKnew rejected earlier this year so NFSR isn’t arguing anything new, just that McKnew erred in ordering the case dismissed last year.   Their main point is that the recently decided  Sunnyvale West Neighborhood Association v. City of Sunnyvale City Council shows that traffic studies should examine the impact a new project will have on current conditions, not on conditions at the end of the “life of the project.”   In Sunnyvale, a state superior court ruled that the city’s environmental review of a road extension violated state law because it based it’s review on traffic projections for 2020 instead of current conditions. Read more…

When people try to describe the future Expo Bikeway that will provide a bike connection from Downtown Los Angeles to Downtown Santa Monica they reference the Orange Line Bike Path as the example. The Orange Line Path runs parallel to the Bus Rapid Transit Line in the Valley and many people are at least aware of it, even on the other side of hills.

As currently planned, the future bike path runs onto the street in several places most notably at major intersections such as Sepulveda, Sawtelle, Pico/Gateway and Barrington.  The problem of the bike path running on and off the congested Westside roads is well put in blogger/activist Gary Kavanagh’s Raise Some Red Flags Bike Advocates, Expo Line Bike Path/Route Not Looking So Good.

But the city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) has a different vision for the Bike Path, a vision first described by BAC Planning Subcommittee chair Kent Strumpell (previously, a 10-year LACBC board member).  Another BAC member, Jonathan Weiss, who led the surprisingly successful campaign to create additional green space at the Westwood Blvd. Station, is going to Neighborhood Councils on the Westside asking them to support a study of a “bicycle freeway” design to elevate the bikeway at the intersections of Sepulveda, Sawtelle, Pico-Gateway and Barrington, roughly three quarters of a mile.

In a letter to the Westside Neighborhood Council, who ultimately voted to ask the Expo Construction Authority to study elevating the listed Westside intersections, Weiss make that a mini-bicycle freeway will keep cyclists safe, and car traffic moving.   Read more…

In November of 2007, the Expo Construction Authority and Culver City agreed that instead of building a “temporary” station at the terminus of Phase I of the Expo Project, that the Authority would build the permanent aerial station in time for the grand opening of Phase I.  As part of that agreement, Culver City agreed to pay the Authority $7 million to cover some of the construction costs.

The deal seemed a classic win-win for everyone.  Culver City moved forward not just with the most ambitious “Transit Oriented Development” project slated for the line, but also on a public health grant to connect the station to the Downtown through a safe and attractive pedestrian walkway.  For once, everything was going smoothly.

Until last week’s Expo Construction Authority Board Meeting.

Culver City officials are withholding payment of $7 million, $4 million of which is for station construction, they promised the Authority in large parts because the city feels the station that is being constructed is not the one they were promised in the M.O.U.  The Construction Authority doesn’t dispute that plans for the station have changed and have been somewhat downsized, but that they didn’t promise a certain station to Culver City in the M.O.U., just that they promised an aerial station for Phase I.

At the meeting, much of the confrontation was between Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Culver City staff.   Read more…

As recently as August of last year, the Expo Construction Authority was dropping hints that Phase I of the Expo Line would be open by now.  Instead, the delays that have hampered the project from the beginning have continued as the Line moves towards its elusive opening date.

Yesterday, another delay was announced.

Longtime Expo supporter Gökhan Esirgen reported that FCI/Fluor/Parsons (the contractor team for most of Phase I of the Expo Line) sent a notice to Expo Authority stating that the projected substantial completion, that is the completion of all construction work, was delayed by two more months to August 23, 2011.

Delaying of the substantial completion by two months at this point makes the earlier reported November opening for the Expo Line less likely. If everything goes very well and if the testing is sped up, it might still be possible to open the line to La Cienega in November, but given the history of new delays appearing and the chance of encountering problems during testing, 2012 seems a more likely option. Read more…

Earlier this afternoon, the Expo Construction Authority Board of Directors approved a $541.7 million design-build contract to the Skanska/Rados team, a no-commuter parking option for the Westwood Station and an aerial station for the Sepulveda Boulevard Station.  Earlier in the day, the Los Angeles City Council had unanimously backed the Rosendahl/Koretz motion funding the Sepulveda aerial station.

Reporting from the room, longtime Expo backer Gökhan Esirgen described the scene:

Today the feeling in the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors hearing room could be best described as ecstasy. After the Phase 2 design – build contract got awarded, cheers and applauses were shaking the the room.

Votes on all items were unanimous, with each board member expressing their happiness and strongly emphasizing the= importance of the day.

The full press release from the Expo Construction Authority can be found after the jump. Read more…