Los Angeles Streetcar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | In planning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stations | 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | Streetcar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator(s) | Los Angeles Streetcar, Inc. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Character | Surface, in-street running | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Los Angeles Streetcar is a planned, partly-funded electric streetcar that would return a single route to Downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Railway streetcar system served the area in the earlier part of the 20th century.
During the mid-1990s the notion of bringing streetcars back to Los Angeles began being explored. Over the years various entities and officials were involved with this unfolding process that eventually centered on downtown. Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard secured $100,000 for a feasibility study released in September 2006. Then in 2008 it was endorsed by Councilman José Huizar as part of his Bringing Back Broadway initiative, providing it an influential backer. [1]
In May 2011, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), the city of Los Angeles, and several stakeholders began conducting studies and holding public meetings to explore the feasibility of restoring streetcar service downtown. [2] According to Metro the streetcar restoration effort would further the ongoing revitalization of Downtown Los Angeles's Historic Core and connect people to employment centers, shopping districts, civic resources, cultural institutions, historic landmarks and entertainment venues within the project study area. [2]
After narrowing it down to seven possible alignments for initial consideration, further study resulted in one alignment being chosen as the Locally Preferred Alternative in January 2012. [3] This alignment would travel on Grand Avenue, 1st Street, Broadway, 11th Street, Figueroa Street, 7th Street, and Hill Street, though a second alternative including an alignment on 9th Street instead of 7th Street was also included – thus two Build Alternatives were to be studied further for potential development. [3] [4] A Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Assessment (Draft EIR/EA) for these two Build Alternatives was expected to be released to the public in spring 2014. [2]
As of July 2017, the project had secured at least $390 million in local funding and was expected to begin operation no later than 2021. [5] [6] A property tax district created along its proposed route, approved in 2012, would provide $62.5 million to $80 million. Measure M, a new local sales tax, provides $200 million for the project but the funding would not be available until 2053. [7] In July 2018, the city of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering released the Environmental Assessment for public comment. [8] By this point the 9th St. alternative was no longer being considered. The public hearing for comments had a sparse turnout. [9]
The Los Angeles City Council on Aug. 15, 2018, approved a Funding Plan for the project, directed staff to apply for a Small Starts federal grant and also submit a proposal to Metro for the funding from Measure M to be accelerated. [10]
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), branded as Metro, is the county agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the public transportation system in Los Angeles County, California, the most populated county in the United States.
The Los Angeles Metro Rail is an urban rail transit system serving Los Angeles County, California in the United States. It consists of six lines, including four light rail lines, and two rapid transit lines serving 101 stations. It connects with the Metro Busway bus rapid transit system, the Metrolink commuter rail system, and several Amtrak lines. Metro Rail is owned and operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).
The G Line is a bus rapid transit line in Los Angeles, California, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). It operates between Chatsworth and North Hollywood stations in the San Fernando Valley. The 17.7-mile (28.5 km) G Line uses a dedicated, exclusive right-of-way for the entirety of its route with 17 stations located at approximately one-mile (1.6 km) intervals; fares are paid via TAP cards at vending machines on station platforms before boarding to improve performance. It is one of the two lines in the Los Angeles Metro Busway system.
The E Line is a 22-mile (35 km) light rail line in Los Angeles County, California, running between Santa Monica to East Los Angeles. It is one of the six lines in the Los Angeles Metro Rail system and is operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).
The C Line is a 19.3-mile (31.1 km) light rail line running between Redondo Beach and Norwalk within Los Angeles County, California. It is one of six lines forming the Los Angeles Metro Rail system and opened on August 12, 1995. Along the route, the line serves the cities of Downey, El Segundo, Hawthorne, Norwalk and Lynwood, the Los Angeles community of Westchester, and several unincorporated communities in the South Los Angeles region including Athens, Del Aire, and Willowbrook. A free shuttle bus to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is available at the line's Aviation/LAX station.
The Harbor Transitway is a 10.3-mile (16.6 km) shared-use express bus corridor and high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes running in the median of Interstate 110 between Downtown Los Angeles and the Harbor Gateway Transit Center in Gardena, California. Buses also make intermediate stops at 37th Street/USC, Slauson, Manchester, Harbor Freeway, and Rosecrans stations. The facility opened for two-person carpools on June 26, 1996, for buses on August 1, 1996 and was converted to HOT lanes as part of the Metro ExpressLanes project on November 10, 2012.
The El Monte Busway is a 12-mile (19 km) shared-use express bus corridor (busway) and high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes running along Interstate 10 between Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles and Interstate 605 or El Monte Station in El Monte, California. Buses also make intermediate stops at Cal State LA station and Los Angeles General Medical Center station. The busway opened in January 1973 to buses only, three-person carpools were allowed to enter in 1976, and the facility was converted to HOT lanes as part of the Metro ExpressLanes project on February 22, 2013.
The D Line is a fully underground 5.1-mile (8.2 km) rapid transit line operating in Los Angeles, running between Koreatown and Downtown Los Angeles. It is one of six lines on the Metro Rail system, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The Regional Connector Transit Project constructed a 1.9-mile (3.1 km) light rail tunnel for the Los Angeles Metro Rail system in Downtown Los Angeles. It connected the A and E lines with the former L Line. The A and E lines previously both terminated at 7th Street/Metro Center station, while the L Line ran through Little Tokyo/Arts District to either Azusa or East Los Angeles. The project provides a one-seat ride into the core of Downtown for passengers on those lines who previously needed to transfer, thus reducing or altogether eliminating many transfers of passengers traveling across the region via Downtown Los Angeles.
The Riverview Corridor is a transit corridor connecting Downtown Saint Paul and the Mall of America in Bloomington via the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. The corridor serves an area from the Saint Paul Union Depot to the Mall via parts of the Metro Green Line and the Metro Blue Line, and a route running parallel to West 7th Street, which runs southwest from Downtown Saint Paul. The corridor creates a triangle connecting opposite ends of the Blue Line and Green Line.
The K Line is a 5.9-mile (9.5 km) light rail line running north-south between the Jefferson Park and Westchester neighborhoods of Los Angeles, California, passing through various South Los Angeles neighborhoods and the city of Inglewood. It is one of six lines in the Los Angeles Metro Rail system operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA). It was opened on October 7, 2022, making it the system's newest line.
Little Tokyo/Arts District station is an underground light rail station on the Los Angeles Metro Rail system which replaced an at-grade station with the same name. The at-grade station was located on the east side of Alameda Street, between 1st Street and Temple Street, on the edge of Little Tokyo and the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles. The at-grade station opened in 2009 as part of the Gold Line Eastside Extension, and was served by the L Line. The at-grade station closed in October 2020, and the new underground station on the south side of 1st Street between Central Avenue and Alameda Street opened on June 16, 2023.
The West Santa Ana Branch is a rail right-of-way formerly used by the Pacific Electric's (PE) Santa Ana route in Los Angeles County and Orange County in Southern California. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) owns the segment of the right-of-way in Los Angeles County, and the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) owns the segment in Orange County.
The Purple Extension Transit Project, formerly known as the Westside Subway Extension and the Subway to the Sea, is a construction project in Los Angeles County, California, extending the rapid transit D Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system from its current terminus at Wilshire/Western in Koreatown, Los Angeles, to the Westside region. The project is being supervised by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). The subway has been given high priority by Metro in its long-range plans, and funding for the project was included in two county sales tax measures, Measure R and Measure M.
The Foothill Extension Project, formerly known as the Gold Line Foothill Extension Project, is an extension of the Los Angeles Metro Rail A Line light rail line from the former Gold Line terminus in Pasadena, California, at Sierra Madre Villa station, east through the "Foothill Cities" of Los Angeles County. The plan's first stage, Phase 2A, extended the then-Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa; it opened on March 5, 2016. Phase 2B, which will extend the now A Line a further four stations to Pomona–North station, broke ground in December 2017. A further two–station extension to Montclair Transcenter is planned for completion in 2028, but is currently unfunded.
The OC Streetcar is a modern streetcar line currently under construction in Orange County, California, running through the cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove. The electric-powered streetcar will be operated by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), and will serve ten stops in each direction along its 4.15-mile (6.68 km) route. With the exception of a short loop in downtown Santa Ana, the line will be double-tracked for its entire length. Most of the route follows the original path of the Pacific Electric Railway "Red Cars" that served Santa Ana in the early 20th century, before being abandoned in 1950. Construction on the streetcar broke ground on November 30, 2018. As of October 2023, the line's expected revenue service date has been pushed to August 2025, per OCTA staff, despite initial plans for a 2021 start.
Bringing Back Broadway is a public–private partnership begun in 2008 and led by Councilmember José Huizar, with Executive Director Jessica Wethington McLean, to revitalize the historic Broadway corridor of Los Angeles. Goals are to provide economic development and business assistance; encourage historic preservation; reactivate Broadway's historic theaters and long-underutilized commercial buildings; and increase transit and development options by bringing a streetcar back to downtown Los Angeles with Broadway as the spine for the route.
The West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor is a planned light rail line, mostly following the Pacific Electric's historic West Santa Ana Branch, connecting Downtown Los Angeles to the city of Artesia, along with other cities in southeastern Los Angeles County.
The Eastside Transit Corridor is a light rail line extension that currently connects Downtown Los Angeles with East Los Angeles. However, the extension is planned to extend further southeast to connect with the Gateway Cities, continuing from a relocated Atlantic station southeast to a new Lambert station in Whittier.
The history of the Los Angeles Metro Rail and Busway system begins in the early 1970s, when the traffic-choked region began planning a rapid transit system. The first dedicated busway opened along I-10 in 1973, and the region's first light rail line, the Blue Line opened in 1990. Today the system includes over 160 miles (260 km) of heavy rail, light rail, and bus rapid transit lines, with multiple new lines under construction as of 2019.
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