FoGL,

I'm fully in favor of extending the green line to LAX, but one thing I've always wondered about is this: using the unfinished turnouts shown on the aerial photo, would the trains head north to the LAX stations, and then south to the east/west track to continue on to Redondo Beach? And do the same thing when going from Redondo Beach east to Norwalk? I'm just curious as to whether half the trains will head to LAX while the other half go to Redondo Beach, or if a method has been figured out to get all trains to both destinations. If not, it might make more sense to put the LAX people-mover station at the turnout, and let it go into LAX from there, rather than make all green line passengers, meaning those who aren't going to LAX, make the trip to the LAX station unnecessarily.

For some reason when I wrote the above, I didn't see the LAX people-mover shown on the map connecting to the Green line at the Intermodel Transit Center. So now my question is, why is it necessary to extend the green line all the way to LAX and up to Sepulveda and Lincoln? Why not just add a station along the people mover line where it passes the rental car facility and long term parking?

Thanks
Andy

What an excellent question, Andy! It's one that I think many people already have asked and will continue to ask, because on first glance it might appear that the Green Line and People Mover are doing the same thing.

Firstly, the Green Line and People Mover do different things; the former is public and regional transportation, while the latter is LAX-focused transportation and might be subject to certain security and other factors that prevent it from being another public transportation device.

Secondly, those trying to access LAX from the north (Westsiders, Valley residents, Downtown residents, etc.) would have to go all the way to the Intermodal Transit Center, check on, and then go back north--again, it might not be a public transportation vehicle that will allow folks to just jump on at any station. Also, having more than one Green Line/People Mover interface allows for operational/security problems at one station to not prevent access altogether from one system to another.

Thirdly, this Green Line extension to LAX is meant to connect folks to regional locations some distance away. Should we make people accessing a train go around the LAX loop just to get to the southern end of the airport, and on to the other ends of the Green Line?

Fourthly (and this is critical), this is a vital connection to future plans to extend the Green Line to the Westside, and to create a future light rail from Century/Aviation to Crenshaw/Exposition via the Harbor Subdivsision ROW and Crenshaw Blvd. Money was an issue that prevented this Green Line from reaching the Westside in the 1990's, but the original plans for the Green Line were to have it go all the way up to where Playa Vista is now, and LA World Airports and other political resistance prevented this from occurring.

Friends of the Green Line has been involved with a Lincoln Blvd. light rail line to connect the future Expo and Green Lines, as well as with extending the Green Line to the South Bay Galleria, as well as passenger rail on the publicly-owned Harbor Subdivision Rail Right of Way between Union Station and LAX.

So Sepulveda/Lincoln is NOT the end-all to our hopes to connect the Green Line to new regions of L.A. County...but it's a huge first step that gives us many options in the future. Furthermore, this map/plan has been vetted by LAWA and Metro planners years ago as the right way for the Green Line to initially proceed to the Westside and get a closer connection to LAX (and they're both important).

As to your original question, I think that the wye created by this extension at Aviation/Imperial creates a lot of questions and ideas as to how this would work, and I believe that there will be trains divvied up between the Westside and the South Bay. I haven't the final answers, but I bet that Metro planners are thinking of some ideas...although I suppose that ridership will ultimately make the difference as to how many trains run along each segment of the Green Line. Again, Andy, a good question--and it's the right question that most people will have when they first see this map.

FoGL

Green Line to the Airport - Joint Powers Authority (JPA)

If this authority will not even be in place until 2009 and the “new” airport planning is happing now with construction to start well before 2009 will everything be in “concrete” by the time the authority even gets started with out the ability to fit into the new airport with out having to tear out new construction or accept a poor interface since it would be to expensive to retro the just completed terminals?

Alan

Hello, Alan. Right now, construction is going slower than expected at LAX, with even the Bradley Terminal only now being started. Perhaps the construction authority will occur, and perhaps not, and perhaps the construction of both the People Mover and the Green Line will occur before 2009...but I could see both being put off until then.

Right now, I think it would be a mistake to conclude that anything at LAX will be built in a timely and organized fashion because there are so many forces at play. The best thing about floating this Authority out there is that it is clear that ALL the political levels are united on a Green Line to Sepulveda/Lincoln, and that if LA World Airports wants to have its way then a Green Line connection/extension will have to be part of the deal...sooner or later.

FoGL