Hooray! Some infrastructure work here in Los Angeles. The “subway to the sea” concept is moving slowly forward with the announcement on Thursday of completion of exploratory drillings at 70 locations in the Westside, where proponents envision miles of underground tunnels linking downtown to Santa Monica.
The drillings, critical to determine whether the soil makeup and methane gas content are safe enough to allow for a full-scale tunneling project, come nearly two years after Congress lifted a 21-year ban on tunneling under Wilshire Boulevard.
During Red Line construction in the 1980s there was an underground explosion in the Fairfax area. The proposed railway would extend the train from Wilshire and Western to the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica. Cool.
The story is that the proponents say it will generate 16,000 construction jobs and 134,000 permanent jobs; speed commutes to the Westside of Los Angeles. That would reduce pollution and traffic congestion because a lot of people work in the Westside after Downtown LA.
If eventually approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the project is expected to cost $4.1 billion to $9 billion and to be partially funded by November’s Measure R voter approved sales tax measure.
Out of the 88 cities in the County only 3 will directly benefit and there is a lot of heat because residents of the Valleys will be paying for something that they will not benefit from. I can see their point but we had a bus line built here which didn’t serve the Westside, didn’t we?
Early drilling results per the Metro according to news releases claim that the samples for drilling should be okay. We will wait and see.
Metro officials say the subway would reduce travel time to the Westside about 30 percent to 60 percent from various parts of Southern California compared with existing bus and rail lines.
Metro is considering two options for the subway route: a Wilshire subway that extends the Metro Purple Line via Wilshire Boulevard and a Wilshire/West Hollywood subway that incorporates all of the Wilshire subway and also includes a spur from the Metro Red Line in Hollywood via Santa Monica Boulevard. It is true that the Westside has been identified as having the county’s second highest density of jobs after downtown, with some 310,000 people traveling there every day.
The proposed subway line is a good thing. Measure R is expected to provide $4.1 billion in funding, and Metro is expected to get matching federal funds. If approved, construction is expected to start in 2012 or 2013 and be completed in a decade according to Mayor Villaraigosa.
With the creation of new jobs and a better infrastructure it sounds like it will be a profitable venture all around for business and for the local government. More business means more tax revenue.
I am all for it and hope the next step will be to turn the areas around the LA river into a walking giant outdoor garden and mall. Well, I can dream, can’t I?
The stock market is up and that is partially because it is an options expiration day and that means that anybody shorting who borrowed cash is trying to close their position while the market makers squeeze the cash out of them. There is a time to short and a time to just buy and hold. Right now it is a time to watch because for today it is too late to do anything that will impact your bottom line if you are a day trader unless you have specific stocks or minerals you are watching.
I will talk about my thoughts on Cash For Clunkers and what it will be like afterwards in my entry tomorrow. Be safe and happy people and have a great Friday and weekend!
Aug 21 2009
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Infrastructure Subway To Sea Update
Tags: Business