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| Rendering for Expo Line's Vermont Station near Exposition Park and USC. |
The NY Times wrote recently about the under construction Expo Line, scheduled to open as soon as next summer, and how it is already spurring transit-oriented development.
Los Angeles consistently earns the dubious award for worst traffic congestion in the US. The reasons for congestion in Los Angeles are complex, but the salient point is that most of the city’s residential, commercial, and retail districts were built for people coming and going by car. Few areas of the city are capable of supporting non-auto dependent lifestyles. To rectify this situation, and fight congestion and air pollution at the same time, the city is investing heavily in new transit lines like Expo via Measure R, a voter approved sales tax increase that will raise $30 billion for eleven new rail lines and extensions over the next thirty years.
Los Angeles’ existing transit network of 71 stations and 100 miles of track, coupled with the additional infrastructure investments provided by Measure R, represent the city’s best chance for creating dense, affordable and non-auto dependent communities. There is tremendous potential for Los Angeles to leverage its existing transit network, Measure R and demand for transit-oriented development as the starting point for improving mobility, building community and achieving regional sustainability. Simply building more roads and more parking to accommodate ever more cars is unsustainable and unhealthy. And without much remaining empty land (besides remote desert valleys) the City has little choice (if it wants to grow sensibly) to concentrate growth and vitality around transit stations.
Los Angeles’ existing transit network of 71 stations and 100 miles of track, coupled with the additional infrastructure investments provided by Measure R, represent the city’s best chance for creating dense, affordable and non-auto dependent communities. There is tremendous potential for Los Angeles to leverage its existing transit network, Measure R and demand for transit-oriented development as the starting point for improving mobility, building community and achieving regional sustainability. Simply building more roads and more parking to accommodate ever more cars is unsustainable and unhealthy. And without much remaining empty land (besides remote desert valleys) the City has little choice (if it wants to grow sensibly) to concentrate growth and vitality around transit stations.
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