The Statistics

California traffic problems are bad. Since we are in February I am going to tell you the traffic data of monthly vehicle miles of travel report. This report estimates the number of vehicle miles that motorists traveled on California State Highways using a sampling of up to 20 traffic monitoring sites. Various roadway types are used to calculate vehicle miles of travel. According to California Department of Transportation Traffic Census, 25.7% of people traveled on weekends on California State Highways in February. Now 74.3% traveled on weekdays. As I looked through the monthly comparisons. California's estimated vehicle miles of travel on the State Highway System for February 2014 is 14.54 Billion. In January 2014 the estimated vehicle miles of travel was 13.51 Billion. That was a 7.6% increase in a month. On February 2013 California State Highways had 14.09 billion estimated vehicle miles of travel. An increase of 3.2% from 2013 to 2014. As you see the California traffic problems is getting worse by each month and year.

According to a Los Angeles Times article, California's population grew by roughly 332,000 people. A 0.88% increase from July 2013 to December 2013. Between July 2012 and July 2013, roughly 170,000 more people came to California from other countries than people left the state according to some estimates. At the same time, nearly 103,000 more people left California for other parts of the United States than came into California. The result was an increase of 66,000 people who came to California from elsewhere. The more people there are in the California the more cars are in the roads. The point is that the California traffic is going to increase thus get worse. With some problems there are solutions. One of the solutions are using the subway to your destinations rather than drive there. At times you will arrive sooner to your destination if you use the subway than if you drive there. So why not use it. You have nothing to lose but everything to gain.

Reyes, Emily Alpert. "California Population Grows by 332,000 to 38.2 Million." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. <http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/12/local/la-me-california-growth-20131213>.

United States. State of California. California Department of Transportation.Traffic Census. Caltrans, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. <http://traffic-counts.dot.ca.gov/>.

Beverly Hills could be obstacle in subway extension

The city of Beverly Hills can be an obstacle for the long delayed Westside subway extension. Municipal leaders, school district officials and residents resist a possible route that would tunnel under homes and the city's emergency preparedness center, Beverly Hills High School. Beverly Hills Unified School District recently hired an attorney who would be looking into the project's environmental review. Lisa Korbatov, the school board's vice president said, “We want to work with the experts and do everything we can, but if it comes down to a lawsuit, we won't shy away from it.”

The city and school officials support the Westside extension and favor running the tunnel under Santa Monica Boulevard with a station at Avenue of the Stars. That route will avoid tunneling under Beverly Hills High School. But the transit agency unveiled, the station could be moved to Constellation Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars. The shift would require tunneling under homes in the city's only high school. Ken Goldman, president of the South West Beverly Hills Homeowners Assn., said “You know, they changed it on us. Alot of people in Beverly Hills feel they were duped.” Metro officials say “...from a ridership standpoint, the station makes more sense on Constellation. Santa Monica site would be close to a golf course,...the Constellation station would be close to shopping areas,... As Metro board member Zev Yaroslavsky said, “It's the center of the center.”

City leaders and residents of Beverly Hills argue that the Constellation option might threaten homes and the high school because of explosive methane gas, old active oil wells. These problems were encountered during the construction of the Red Line years ago. More recently in Europe and Asia. Once the Westside extension is finished, noise might be a problem and the vibration from the trains could damage buildings and the high school which was built in the 1920s. “I don't know what the reason is for running under the high school” said City Councilwoman Nancy Krasne. “If there is a major disaster, we have 2,200 students there and every bit of our emergency equipment and earthquake supplies.”

“If the station is located on Santa Monica, pedestrian tunnels with moving sidewalks could be installed to move subway riders to and from portals on the Constellation.” city leaders say. Dave Sotero, a Metro spokesman, defend the transit agency saying, “He has not received any noise or vibration complaints from subway operations for at least 15 years. Nor have there been any substantiated claims for property damage. There's lots of experience building in this environment. The oil fields are much deeper than the subway tunnel, which will run about 50 to 70 feet below the surface. We will also use establish practices to ensure safety.” Metro board members approved a detailed study that must be completed before any option is selected. It will weigh the pros and cons of the Constellation and Santa Monica stations as well as tunneling through areas with earthquake faults, methane gas, and active and abandoned oil wells.

Weikel, Dan. "Beverly Hills Could Be Obstacle in Subway Extension." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2010. Web. 13 Feb. 2015. <http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/30/local/la-me-subway-20101030>.

L.A. New Subway

Los Angeles will get a subway. Not how they imagined but it's a start. The subway will cut through heavily populated Wilshire Boulevard. Is the most promising corridor in Los Angeles for rail rapid transit. Connecting downtown L.A. to western coastal suburbs. This news didn't come without a fight. From court battles to congressional debates. There was decades of delay over safety and environmental concerns.

       The multi billion dollar Purple Line Extension won't be as previously described. It would end miles from the ocean, and even this far it will take around 20 years. In my opinion that is too long for a city of Los Angeles to wait. The first Purple Line segment is being financed with a $1.2 billion grant and a $856-million loan from the federal government. When the entire subway is complete, riders will get from downtown to the coastal suburbs in about 25 minutes. The purple line is expected to to boost average weekly ridership to about 215,000 daily boardings. According to Los Angeles major Eric Garcetti, “This will help people get to where they need to go, cut traffic and boost the economy.”

In the mid-1980s the subway extension came to a halt after a methane gas leak from the ground. This contributed to a 22 year delay of the project. A team of tunneling and transportation experts said the line could be safely built because improvements and boring machines and construction techniques. Brian Taylor, a transportation expert and professor at UCLA, rebottle their idea. He said, “despite improvements in tunneling, construction of the line will be complicated by webs of utility lines, old oilfields, pockets of gas and seismic conditions.” I agreed completely that seismic conditions would be a challenge. Los Angeles is notorious for earthquakes. It only takes a jolt to crack the concrete and bury the subway with the earths crust.

Even with construction underway people are still questioning whether the $600 million to $700 million a mile cost of the Purple Line could benefit more people. Though officials say the Purple Line will reduce traffic, the project's environmental analyst indicates there will be only limited relief on Wilshire and near by streets and little to no relief for the freeways. Metro officials argue that the only way to relieve traffic is if more subway and light rail are added and linked together. 

Santa Monica's mayor predicted the subway will encourage a significant shift away from the automobile. “If the car is king of L.A., then the Purple Line will be the queen of L.A.”

Weikel, Dan. "L.A.'s Not-quite 'subway to the Sea' Finally Breaks Ground."Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 07 Nov. 2014. Web. 06 Feb. 2015. <http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-westside-subway-20141108-story.html>.