Transportation Issues in Los Angeles

Commuters in the Los Angeles region spend an average of 93 hours a year just idling in peak period traffic, the worst of any major metropolitan area in the country. The adverse economic impact of that delay is estimated at more than $10 billion. Worse than that, air quality in the region suffers from extraordinary levels of traffic and suffocating congestion. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in California and, given its location relative to wind patterns from the ports and LAX, and the fact that it is bordered or traversed by eight different freeways and the busiest street corridors in the region, the 2nd Supervisorial District likely has the most concentrated transportation-related carbon footprint of any District in the County. It is also the most transit-dependent of any Supervisorial District, with the highest MTA ridership bus routes in the region. We also have Culver City Transit and LADOT DASH buses serving parts of the District, along with the Blue Line, Green Line, Red Line and the Exposition Line under construction. As a Los Angeles City Director of the MTA Board, member of the Exposition Light Rail Construction Authority as well as a member of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, I have steadfastly advanced measures to make public transit more accessible to more people and to promote incentives for commercial and residential development along transit corridors and at MTA subway and light rail stations. I have supported the expansion of the City’s highly successful DASH program, the “smart streets” program for the coordinated timing of traffic lights to adjust for flow of traffic and the Mayor’s initiatives on traffic calming measures, accelerated pothole repair and the installation of more left-turn lanes and signals on busy streets. As Supervisor, I will retain a seat on the MTA Board and continue my transit advocacy in that venue. Transportation and mobility improvements I will continue to pursue include the following:

• Complete the Exposition Light Rail Line all the way to Santa Monica.
• Make the Crenshaw Corridor the next MTA priority for rapid transit service.
• Extend the Green Line to LAX.
• Extend the Green Line along the Aviation Boulevard right-of-way to connect with the Crenshaw Boulevard system that in turn will connect with the Exposition Light Rail system so that there is seamless rapid transit serving the transit-dependent from the LAX area all the way to Downtown.
• Support planning efforts for the “Subway to the Sea” along Wilshire Boulevard, but not at the expense of completing the “Light Rail to the Sea” along Exposition.
• Support voter approval of a measure to eliminate the prohibition against subway funding from County transportation sales tax receipts.
• Provide incentives for commercial and residential developments at light rail and subway stations and along transit corridors. I have championed Transit Oriented Development Planning for eleven stations on the Exposition Line and will insist on similar efforts for all future light rail and subway extensions.
• Secure MTA funding for an alternatives analysis of the Slauson railroad right-of-way that connects the airport area to the harbor. The potential is to eventually provide an alternative way to move goods to and from the port and airport and to make possible the extension of light rail to the South Bay.
• Work to expand and complete the 710 Freeway to reduce congestion on all freeways in Los Angeles County.
• Expand the Metro Bus Rapid Transit program to serve all major thoroughfares throughout the 2nd District.
• Assure better integrated and coordinated scheduling of all municipal bus systems, the MTA bus, subway and light rail systems and Metrolink so that together, they provide better service than they can on their own and to make the public transit experience as convenient and as seamless as possible for the riding public.
• Insist that public transportation at all times be safe, on-time, clean and affordable.
• Make equitable funding of state and federal transportation dollars a regional lobbying priority.
• In the unincorporated areas of the District, prohibit street construction during rush hours, much as we have done in the City of Los Angeles.
• Extend the Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control System (ATSAC) in use in the City of Los Angeles to other areas of the 2nd District. ATSAC is a computer-based traffic control system that monitors traffic conditions and adjusts signal timing accordingly. Studies show that ATSAC significantly reduces travel times, vehicle stops, air emissions and fuel consumption.

The transportation planning process at the MTA works fairly well, although major alignment and transit technology options have always and unavoidably been political decisions. What is missing from the planning process, with the positive exception of the municipal bus systems, is the integration of municipal and County transportation planning with MTA planning for the region. There is also a disconnect between regional transportation planning and transportation planning among the municipalities and the County. Among other things, the disconnections have resulted in a “doughnut hole” of transportation planning south of the Santa Monica Freeway. MTA must take the initiative to integrate the different jurisdictional planning processes so that the MTA, municipalities in its service area and the County do not work at cross-purposes. I also think the bus routing system for the MTA and the different municipal bus operators needs periodic restructuring to become more destination-oriented and less reliant on a grid system that is rendered inefficient by new developments and destination centers. We also need to better integrate transportation planning with land use planning in our different municipalities and unincorporated areas. It is remarkable that some of the most densely populated areas of the region are the most transit under-served. All too often, the County’s land use planning functions, as well as the planning functions of our cities, take place without reference to the transportation planning activities of each other. Our transportation planners and our land use planners need to better coordinate their objectives and be far more deliberate in encouraging the jobs/housing/transportation balance we all seek. We cannot think of these three goals in isolation from one another. Land use plans should have transportation elements and transportation plans have to be developed in the context of changing residential and commercial land uses.

 

A county transportation-related function also comes with being a Supervisor, with discretion over expenditure of gas tax receipts and county programs relating to such things as “smart streets.”