Los Angeles Times; August 27, 2006:
But experts say the biggest culprit in rush-hour traffic snags is a boom in Westside commercial development that has lured and created jobs.
Job growth has transformed the area into the region’s premiere commercial hub, second only to downtown Los Angeles in the number of jobs. Each day, workers pour into office buildings lining busy corridors such as Wilshire Boulevard, the burgeoning towers of Century City and the rows of Santa Monica office parks that have become a mecca for media companies such as Yahoo! and MTV.
One problem: Primarily because housing is so expensive, only about 30% of these workers actually live on the Westside, according to a Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority study. That leaves more than 300,000 people a day commuting to the area.
So many workers drive to Santa Monica from other parts of the region that the city’s population nearly doubles during the day, to 150,000 from 87,000 at night. Beverly Hills’ population more than triples, said David Mieger, director of Westside planning for the MTA.
Los Angeles Times; August 28, 2006:
Over the years, dreams have come and gone of a coastal L.A. served by commuter ferries, much like those in Seattle, San Francisco and New York. Today, no agency is actively pursuing the idea, but some wonder if its time has come.
With gas more than $3 a gallon and coastal traffic in gridlock, could cities lining Santa Monica Bay be ripe for fleets of water shuttles?
Could the WaterBus add a loop to Santa Monica Pier and back? Could a larger version carry commuters from, say, San Pedro and Redondo Beach to the Westside?
Los Angeles Times; September 3, 2006:
In 2001, the last time projects were ranked, the MTA board of directors gave the Expo Line a high priority.
Construction is scheduled to begin soon on the first part of the line — from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City.
The next proposed segment, from Culver City to Santa Monica, is in the long-range plan but has not yet been funded. It is expected to cost $750 million to build.
The Gold Line extension did not make it into the MTA’s 2001 long-range plan. A preliminary draft of the agency’s 2006 priorities shows other, more costly, projects — such as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposed subway to the sea — ranking higher.
Because ridership on the Gold Line’s 14-mile route between Union Station near downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena turned out to be lower than expected, a further extension of the line was placed somewhere in the middle of this year’s preliminary long-range plan.
