Metro Unveils Station Design for Regional Connector

5:55 AM PDT on August 23, 2012

What entrances to the Regional Connector could look like.

(Public meetings for the connector continue today at the Central Library, 630 W. Fifth St.; 1 to 3 p.m., Aug. 28, at the Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave.; and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Aug. 29, at the Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First St. Project information is at metro.net/projects/connector.)

At last night's outreach meeting for the Regional Connector, Metro finally released its station drawings for the four new train stations that will be built as part of the Connector project. Looking at the renderings, it's hard to see what exactly about these drawings required such secrecy that Metro refused to show them to press even after a briefing for Metro Board Members.

Before analyzing the station design, we should note that this is not the final design, but just the most recent thoughts on how the stations could and should look. Opportunities exist for artists to personalize the stations somewhat, as we've seen with both the Expo Line Stations and the Orange Line Extension Stations are also forthcoming.

After the jump, we'll look at each station, starting with the Little Tokyo Station and provide some basic thoughts.

Little Tokyo Station (1st and Central)

No matter how many times I look at this, I get distracted by the blue sky.

Looks pretty standard, not anything surprising.

Looks like a longer trip with escalators.

Ground level platform location overhead shot.

Bunker Hill Station (2nd and Hope)

The station platform has a pretty standard design with stairways or elevators needed for access to the entire station.

No surprise, plans for the station have access from the street down escalators to the platform area. Looks like the plan is to have the TAP machines before the escalators.

Broadway Station, aka "Historic Core" (2nd and Broadway), "Single Entrance"

From The Source: This station will have a station entrance at the intersection of 2nd and Broadway. The site consists of only a parking lot adjacent to the Los Angeles Times building and is possibly available for a new development. An entirely new secondary station entrance could easily be incorporated into any future building designs on the Spring Street side of the station. The block between Broadway and Spring streets is about 400 feet long — a very short walk.