Los Angeles — Proposed Streetcar Routes Released

Rail Transit Online — July 2009

L.A. Streetcar Inc. (LASI) has unveiled three possible routes for a downtown circulator project, all of which would serve the area's main traffic generators. LASI is a non-profit group backed by business interests and many local elected officials who support the scheme as part of a plan to increase economic development in the central core surrounding the Broadway corridor.

Two of the alignments would operate on a one-way couplet along Broadway and Hill Street while the third would be placed on Olive Street and Broadway. All three would start at the Civic Center in the north and serve Staples Center, L.A. Live and the convention center at the south end of downtown; each option would use a different path to reach the terminals.

"We are also investigating the idea of having 'mini-routes' on the alignment," LASI Executive Director Dennis Allen told blogdowntown. "The idea here is you might have a South Park loop that could run at certain times, separate and distinct from th eBunker Hill loop, and each separate and distinct from a few streetcars that run the entire route."

A community open house was held on July 29 to explain the streetcar plan and obtain public input. Attended bya a large number of downtown residents, business owners, and stakeholders, including two members of the city council, the even was described as "a huge success" by LASI.

www.lastreetcar.org