Expo Line Is Popular - Thanks To L.A. County Voters

by Gary Toebben

 Last Friday, shortly before noon, a long line snaked its way around the intersection of Colorado Avenue and 4th Street in Santa Monica. Parents with young kids, cyclists, a chanting group of L.A. Football Club fans plus hundreds more were waiting patiently for the chance to ride one of the first Expo trains leaving Santa Monica for downtown. For the first time since 1953, it's now possible to take transit from the "skyline to the shoreline," as Mayor Eric Garcetti pronounced during the opening celebration. Metro Chairman, Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas, carried a surfboard to the celebration, and within the first four hours, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 passengers boarded the Expo Line.

A modern train from downtown to Santa Monica has been a dream of proponents for 26 years. Former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Metro Board 10 years ago designed a plan and the voters of L.A. County made it a reality with their support of Measure R in 2008. In March, we saw similar enthusiasm for the extension of the Gold Line, and in the next few years we will see both the opening of the Regional Connector - a 1.9 mile alignment that will connect the Gold Line to the Blue, Expo, Red and Purple lines - and the opening of the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Line, connecting Expo to the Green Line. The construction of both these projects is well-underway.

We may have another opportunity this coming November to extend and augment our initial Measure R investment with more transportation projects to improve the mobility of our region. Metro's draft plan includes highway and transit projects that reimagine our relationship with transportation and finally connect to LAX. A Sepulveda Tunnel, a Purple Line Extension to Westwood and a Gold Line east to the County line, along with local return dollars to every city in the county are just a few of the proposals in the new draft plan.

While L.A. County residents and businesses have stepped up with these transportation investments, just the opposite is happening at the state level. Last week, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) announced that it would cut $754 million in projects from the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) due to a drop in gasoline tax revenue that has totaled more than $1.1 billion annually.

The Chamber is part of the statewide Fix Our Roads coalition, which recently unveiled a Roadmap to Consensus, a proposal which combines what we believe are the best ideas from the Republican reform agenda, the Governor’s proposal and legislation introduced by Senator Jim Beall and Assembly Member Jim Frazier. We will be discussing these principles with legislative leaders during ACCESS Sacramento, June 8 - 9.

Last week was an example of L.A. County doing exciting, creative things when it comes to transportation. It is now time for the State to help. I encourage you to join us in Sacramento to tell our state representatives that the time to fix California's declining transportation system is now.

And that's The Business Perspective.