Today, close to seventy thousand rides are taken by bus on Wilshire Boulevard, making this corridor the second busiest transit line in Los Angeles. A subway down Wilshire Boulevard to Santa Monica is not a new idea - for three decades, the region has tried to build a subway, but ran into several blockages. Only recently has the ordinance that prohibited tunneling a subway in Santa Monica been repealed. Last year, Los Angeles Metro allowed comments to be sent in regards to the proposed subway extensions. Metro reports that of the 484 comments received, an "overwhelming majority of comments received supported the need for a transit improvement in the Westside Extension Corridor." But of course, it's not that easy to build a subway, especially in the car-dominated Los Angeles. Public transit in America has long been associated with urban grime, crime, and the poor. Residents fear that the trains will bring crime or spark high density development in single-family home neighborhoods. Metro has proposed some seventeen route possibilities, including some using elevated rail, bus rapid transit, light rail, and monorail. Some routes bypass Wilshire Boulevard all together and travel down Santa Monica. Others do not connect into the current system and require a transfer. And some bypass neighborhoods just to avoid political opposition.
Metro's evaluation criteria are the overall effectiveness of the project, cost, feasibility, and public acceptance (which may difficult). Most of the comments received are in favor of an underground subway down Wilshire Boulevard. There still remains the no-build alternative. Metro does not mention the pricetag of this 13 mile project (and it will depend on the route chosen), but newspaper cost estimates range from $4 billion to $6 billion. At the earliest, Red Line trains will be running towards Santa Monica in 2018.
Map courtesy of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
