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Chineseblogdowntown scoops MetroRiderLA :)
Eric over at blogdowntown has posted the various models for the Downtown Connector, as well as readable images.
Most alternatives run at grade through Downtown on 2nd Street, with 2 and a half of them largely or entirely subway operations. Metro says that a full subway route would require losing the Little Tokyo station, which seems to be somewhat deleterious. The “compromise” plan seems to be Alternative #5, which would run underground until the last moment at Alameda Street. It’s not perfect, but speaking personally and not for this site, I have to say that #5 is the best alternative, although Alternative #6 appears to create a “compromise” station near Astronaut Onizuka, which may be a suitable replacement. That, and my paycheck will suffer severely due to easy access to Kinokuniya, but thankfully Metro isn’t my accountant.Either way, it sounds like a fairly big mess.
(hat tip to Eric Richardson - thanks for posting this information for those of us who were/are unable to attend the meetings.)
Discussion
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Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
View from a Loft has photos from the meeting on Flickr, view them here.
Speaking as a sometimes rider of the zig-zaggy VTA system in San Jose–go for the the route with the fewest turns. They just slow things down, sometimes painfully.
One thing that’s not being considered is avoiding the whole jog to 7th and running more directly to Union Station (wasn’t this the original proposed route for the Blue Line when the Gold Line was planned as part of it?).
Not that the 7th St line should be dumped–maybe it could become a shuttle, or trains could be split, or the blue could use one routing and expo the other, with convenient transfers.
Seems like it’d be cheaper than a subway, even a short one, and would make for the fastest and most convenient transfer to the Gold Line & Metrolink.
295bus: The straight shot would be a line from Washington down Alameda to Union Station, and it would be a fairly quick trip to nowhere; Alameda is industrial until Little Tokyo. The Blue Line now is what it is, with the slow-ish street running portion in Downtown, and 7th/Figueroa is too important to bypass. Basically the overall route is determined, the two remaining questions are really as to which cross street it takes over to Alameda and how much of it is underground. But 7th/FIgueroa is a large employment center, probably the most urban station in LA, and skipping it doesn’t seem to make much sense in any model.
Anything other than a fully grade-separated alignment is ridiculous, given the levels of auto and bus traffic in the area. Turn 2nd into a trench if you want, but do not let this run at surface level.
#5 seems like the best compromise.
Everybody support Alternative #5.
You can go to their web site and leave a comment to that effect:
metro.net/regionalconnector.
I too had thought of running a train up Alameda at one point. But Aaron makes a good point: there’s a reason why the Blue line went over to 7th Street and Figueroa: density. And continuing the route up the Central Library, Disney Hall and the Grand Avenue project makes a lot of sense.