Streetsblog Los Angeles

Flanked by City Council Transportation Committee Chair Bill Rosendahl and Sherman Oaks Home Owner's Association President Richard Close, Wendy Greuel argues the city needs to do more for commuters, especially those using the 405. Photo courtesy Wendy Greuel for Mayor

“Behind me, you can see one of the most notorious symbols of LA traffic: Valley commuters stuck in the 405 South daily traffic jam,” began Wendy Greuel at her transportation themed press conference at the Sherman Oaks Galeria. “The 405-101 interchange is the most congested interchange in the United States.”

Greuel, the City Controller who is battling City Councilman Eric Garcetti to be the next mayor of Los Angeles, took a moment to yesterday to highlight what many Angelenos already know. There is not enough freeway space for the number of people that want to, or feel forced to, drive to get where they need to go.

That statement is doubly true for the 405.

Maybe the next mayor should do something about it.

One issue that both Garcetti and Greuel agree on is that further widening of the I-405 through the Sepulveda Pass, one of the few transportation links between the populous exhurbs of the Westside and San Fernando Valley, is a fool’s game. Both advocate for a strong and real transit alternative to driving on the 405.

And advocates agree. David Murphy is the head of Angelenos Against Gridlock (AAG).  In the past weeks, AAG earned a lot of media attention by attacking the widening and revealing the celebrity support of Elon Musk for highlighting how far behind, and over budget, the 405 widening project is.

But Murphy’s group isn’t arguing for further widening, but for rail expansion.

“What does all the attention to the 405 traffic, including even on Good Morning America today, say about the need for rail?” Murphy asked rhetorically in an email.

While both candidates agree that transit is the best way to move people through the pass, they each offer different solutions.

“I am also committed to developing a relief project for the 405,” Greuel continued yesterday. “I began exploring this as a councilmember and, as mayor, I am ready to put those plans into action and provide relief to the 405 congestion. My plan supports investing in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Light Rail, dedicated lanes and prioritizing the city’s bike plan.”

“If you look at the number of passengers we have to alleviate, light-rail probably wouldn’t do enough,” Garcetti is quoted as saying in Neon Tommy. “[The rail would] go from the north San Fernando Valley basically to LAX, including a transit tunnel through the 405 pass that would allow you to be able to go essentially from Sherman Oaks to UCLA in five or 10 minutes.”

While a tunnel may sound cost prohibitive, Greuel hasn’t ruled out the tunnel option. She noted that it might actually be easier to tunnel than build on or near the 405 given recent experiences.

...sure you are...

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How did your favorite alternative score? Click on the image to see a legible version.

You have to hand it to the public outreach folks for the I-710 Big Dig Project. Nothing says “community involvement” quite like dropping an Alternatives Analysis that was completed in December of last year to the public at Friday, at 3:50 p.m. before a holiday weekend.

Still an abject refusal on Caltrans part to accept that connecting two highways might somehow result in increased air pollution.

The analysis narrows down the alternatives that will be studied in the Environmental Impact Report to five potential projects. Yes, one of them includes digging a really big tunnel. However, the document recommends ”refining” each of the alternatives to better fulfill the projects overall goals. For example, the tunnel option also should include a look at Bus Rapid Transit. The Bus Rapid Transit option should include other Transportation Demand Management evaluation and so forth.

We wanted to create a place for interested parties to discuss the Alternatives Analysis over the weekend, especially since Monday is a holiday. After the jump is the five project descriptions that live to be studied another day, a description and the recommended refinements. All information is directly from the executive summary.

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Yes. Let's.

Returning from paternity leave, I made a joke promise that if Supervisor Mike Antonovich’s office would get behind a transit line for the High Desert Corridor, a proposed new freeway connecting Highway 14 in Los Angeles County to Highway 18 in San Bernardino County, Streetsblog would give a week of exclusive coverage to the area he represents and praise him effusively.

Support Streetsblog by joining us for the ARTCRANK poster and art show at Orange 20 on December 4.

About an hour later I got an email from an acquantince familar with the project warning me, “be careful what you wish for.”

Now I know why. While Metro has promoted the project as a “$6 billion dollar,” “50 mile 6 lane highway” that will “accomodate an expected three to six fold increase in truck traffic,” a series of new meetings for the project are promising two give the project a second look, and perhaps a complete makeover. A list of the meeting times and locations is available at the end of the article.

The High Desert Corridor project team is now considering  a bike path, a green energy production/transmission corridor, and a high-speed rail feeder service connector for the area either as a replacement the project or addition to a smaller highway project. Politicians in San Bernadino have already heard presentations on the changes being studied and Supervisor Antonovich’s office confirmed that the environmental impact report will include all of these options both in companion to the freeway and as alternatives.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report is expected to be available for public review late 2013.

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The proposed site for BNSF's SCIG railyard.

In a sadly misunderstood and ill-grounded editorial, the Press-Telegram endorsed Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s (BNSF) proposed 153-acre railyard project west of the 710 freeway, the Southern California International Gateway (SCIG). The endorsement comes right before a public hearing featuring demonstrations from some 20 community organizations who will offer evidence denouncing the benefits of the project as well as proposals for a new site.

The initial draft environmental impact report (DEIR) released September of last year was re-visited due to overwhelming complaints from community members and groups, particularly the South Coast Air Quality Management district. BNSF then re-circulated the EIR (RDEIR) in a study that was, in some sense, relatively the same as the first which, by the way, stated clear and significant health hazards.

When asking BNSF to comment in regards to the fact that the RDEIR is heavily contested, BNSF correspondent Lena Kent replied, “The updated DEIR completed by the [Port of Los Angeles] affirms that building SCIG is better than the no project alternative or continuing with the current use at the site. The report shows that residents, students, teachers, and workers nearby would be better off with the project than without the project, in terms of air quality and health risk improvements, as well as all of those living, working, and going to school along the I-710 freeway. We think if folks review the report, the benefits will be clear.”

Sounding oddly reflective of BNSF’s (obvious) support of the project, the P-T continued along the same lines with their stance:

“[BNSF] says its proposed [SCIG] railyard would eliminate about 2 million [sic] annual truck trips, with most of the relief targeted for the Long Beach (710) Freeway. [...] The revised report essentially says the same as the study released last year: that local residents and schools are better off with BNSF’s proposed railyard[.]“

Firstly, it seems no one has actually read the report. Read more…

Carmaheaven riders posing in front of an empty 405 on the Sunset Bridge. Photo credit: Hal Bergman / halbergman.com

There were some fears that the second coming of “Carmageddon”, a full closure of the 405 between the I-10 and the I-101, might really bring the disastrous traffic jams that were imagined but never materialized the last time around. By all accounts, traffic was no worse this weekend in Santa Monica and the Westside than any typical sunning idyllic weekend. Sam Morrissey, City Traffic Engineer for the city of Santa Monica reported “Santa Monica calmer than a usual sunny Saturday. No real traffic impacts.” If UCLA’s research last time was any indication, the air was dramatically cleaner.

Our Santa Monica weekly column is supported by Bike Center in Santa Monica.

At the same time that contractors were furiously destroying perfectly good infrastructure, people all over Los Angeles were celebrating the absence of cars on the 405, bicyclists especially. The LACBC organized Westside rides appeared to be a hit. I saw one of those groups go by with at least 100-200 riders. C.I.C.L.E. also hosted an event for those on the other side of the hill, ensuring our friends in the Valley weren’t left out of the fun.

I took part in the Midnight Ridazz “Carmaheaven” ride, the final details of which came together at the last minute. The event involved many of the same people that put together the Flight Vs. Bike event last year, myself included, and led by Don “Roadblock” Ward. Don & Joe Anthony (who was a Jet Blue racer in Flight Vs Bike) of Bike Commute News made brief television appearances on NBC expressing their thoughts on the ride and opportunities a freeway closure represents.

Though modest in pace, the Carmaheaven ride was several hundred strong, and fairly epic in scope. The ride started at the new Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles, after feeder rides and transit riders came from as far away as Pomona. The ride included a viewing of the 405 at the Sunset bridge (pictured above), and concluding with a nighttime bonfire at Dockweiler Beach under a full Harvest Moon. The fact that a major automobile artery is shut down feels like a holiday, one that locals bars even name mixed drinks after, does say something about a shift occurring in the culture. Read more…

Are you ready to be inspired?

Well, good, because the American Association of State Highway and Transportation just released its list of finalists for the “America’s Transportation Award” Grand Prize. These ten projects span every sector of the transportation world, from enormous highway projects to … less enormous highway projects.

Maryland's Intercounty Connector, built "for 20 years of future sprawl," is an AASHTO favorite. Photo: dougtone/Flickr via GGW

Voting is open through October 19. Who will win the top prize?

One candidate is Maryland’s $2.4 billion Intercounty Connector, a “19-mile multimodal highway.” This road was “designed for 20 years of future sprawl,” wrote Greater Greater Washington, and today its wide asphalt expanses are a testament to how little the region needed this project to be built. Here’s an actual headline from a local radio station: “Why does ICC seem so empty?“

Then there’s California DOT, a.k.a. Caltrans, which was nominated for its $5 million “carmageddon” communications campaign. It saved Los Angeles from complete meltdown when one portion of I-405 was closed last summer. Either that or the short-term closure of a single highway isn’t the end of the world after all.

Another highway AASHTO honors is the I-270 project in St. Louis, which “redesigned and reconstructed” three roadway projects and came in under budget. The goal of this project? To reduce congestion. Never mind that the Texas Transportation Institute ranks St. Louis third from last in congestion, or that as the scourge of congestion has been systematically eliminated in this city, people have actually spent more time behind the wheel.

Not a single transit, bike or pedestrian project makes AASHTO’s list. Is there any better indication that the majority of America’s state DOTs still view job number one as building highways?

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Dr. Roberta Kato, MD, is a Pediatric Pulmonologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and an Environmental Health Ambassador with Physicians for Social Responsibility-LA.

Roberta Kato Photo:Children's Hospital of Los Angeles

As a Pediatric Pulmonologist, I’m concerned that Caltrans proposed expansion of the I-710 Corridor— from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the Pomona Freeway—will negatively impact air quality in adjacent communities.  Our children will be healthier when fewer vehicles travel through the neighborhoods where they live, learn and play.

Caltrans claims that expanding the 18-mile freeway is a path towards cleaner air.  The over 10,000 page Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) analyzes six different design proposals—called alternatives—for improving the I-710Corridor, including a no-build alternative.  Five of these alternatives propose expanding the I-710 to up to ten general purpose lanes, and several include an additional four lane freight corridor.

A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of the I-710 Corridor Project recommended a complete modeling and mitigation plan to address future air quality impacts attributable to the project.  This is essential; the community deserves protection in case Caltrans’ modeling—which suggests air quality will improve—turns out to be inaccurate.  Unfortunately, Caltrans excluded the HIA in the DEIR. Read more…

A packed house at a June public meeting on I-710 alternatives in Pasadena. Photo:Dan McGuire/Metro

Last week, Metro finished its most recent public meetings outlining twelve proposals to fill the so-called 4.5 mile “gap” on the I-710 between Alhambra and Pasadena at the I-210. The public response to the twelve alternatives presented was near-uniformly negative. Anger was particularly high at new proposals to connect the I-710 to the I-210 including, a tunnel connecting the 10 Freeway to the 134 Freeway, a surface route that would widen Avenue 64 and a highway route along Huntington Drive, Fair Oaks Avenue and Pasadena Avenue.

The newer proposals were viewed by many communities, including Alhambra, East Los Angeles, La Canada Flintridge and Pasadena as so ludicrous that it pushed the proposal to build a tunnel underneath several San Gabriel Valley Communities off the front pages.

Maybe that was the point. No media coverage of the Big Dig option. No media coverage of the flood of trucks that would dominate San Gabriel Valley Streets. Little mention of that any expansion of the I-710 or surrounding freeways is a giant subsidy to the port and shipping industries.

On August 29, a Metro Technical Advisory Committee will meet to pair down the list of twelve alternatives to just a “handful.” The smaller list could be presented to the full Metro Board of Directors next month or the month after. Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-Pasadena) firmly believes that the fix is already in for a certain route, despite protests from Metro that it’s totally not. He tells the Daily News, “I think the folks in downtown L.A. are going to try to put on a show to justify a predetermined conclusion…Fundamentally, this is a flawed process.”

If the agency wishes people to believe that the short list of projects that will be studied in a full environmental impact report hasn’t been pre-determined, it would do well to not present the alternatives next month. Read more…

For the record, this is what a 14 lane highway looks like. Look how clean the air looks! Photo:Pankab Sajam/Picasa

(There are two more meetings for the I-170 Expansion Project, tonight in Long Beach and tomorrow in Commerce. The Long Beach Post has the meeting details. If you can’t make a meeting, you can email comments to 710eir@metro.net by August 29th.)

When Streetsblog first looked at the alternatives proposed in 2009 for reducing congestion along the I-710 Corridor in Long Beach, Compton, Commerce, South Los Angeles, Watts, and East Los Angeles, staff was already pushing for adding four lanes to the existing ten mixed use travel lanes. This would add four highway lanes along the already choking 18 mile corridor to an area already choking on exhaust fumes.

72 miles of freeway lanes…in the name of cleaner air. Only in California.

To nobody’s surprise, the new Draft Environmental Impact Report for the corridor study recommends the 72 miles of paving in the form of “truck only” lanes. The report is a marvel of backwards thinking, supporting sprawl development in Riverside, wider travel lanes (thus faster speeds) to reduce crashes and induced demand to clean the air. Streetsblog’s review of the documents was published in July.

Other publications and professionals are echoing Streetblog’s original take as the hearings for the project move forward. Derision of the documents is popping up all over the media, both by commenters and by the writers themselves. Some of the best commentary on the I-710 Draft Environmental Impact Report, which may be known forever as the “widening for cleaner air” report, can be found after the jump. Read more…

It’s official: Carmageddon II is scheduled for the end of September from the evening of Friday, September 28 to the early morning of October 1.  As before, Metro is demolishing a portion of the Mulholland Bridge in part to make place for a carpool lane.  The full details of the closure can be found at any number of news sites, including Patch.

People keep saying this picture, was "pretty." Yeah, except for the asphalt. Photo: Carter Rubin

As many Streetsbloggers remember, Carmageddon is not an apocalypitical event, but a pretty fun weekend where the number of cars on the road is dramatically reduced all over the county.  It’s too bad Metro and Caltrans are so hell bent on widening the freeway, because removing it created a great transportation environment.

Of course, the highlight of last year’s Carmageddon for thousands of cyclists around the world was the Wolfpack Hustle vs Jet Blue “race.” When Jet Blue announced a promotional flight over the Sepulveda Pass from Burbank Airport to Long Beach Airport, a group of cyclists led by Gary Kavanagh, Roadblock, Joe Anthony and Ezra Horne challenged the flight to a race.  Jet Blue played along.  The bikes won, easy.

Rather then dwell on the details, spin and dire warnings, let’s focus on the fun of Carmageddon.  How are you going to celebrate Carmageddon?  What kind of events would you like to see programmed to help celebrate the car-reduced weekend?