If you have driven along 1st Street in downtown Los Angeles lately, you may have noticed a difference: there are railroad tracks in the pavement that weren't there a few weeks ago.
The tracks are part of an extension of the light-rail Gold Line that will connect East Los Angeles to Union Station, with trains continuing to Pasadena. The line is scheduled to open in 2009.
Think about that for a second, and then take a hard look at the accompanying photo. . . .
So what's wrong with the picture?
The new rail line, in a way, is cruel. Imagine boarding the train in Boyle Heights and then rolling down 1st Street directly toward the heart of downtown.
"Toward" is the operative word there. Just when the train hits the outskirts of the business district, it turns north on Alameda Street toward Union Station. If the heart of downtown is your destination, you must switch to the subway at Union Station and go back to where you were heading in the first place.
What's the big deal about that?
If you believe that mass transit should take you where you want to go -- not kind of near where you want to go, then it's dumb.
It also violates the first rule of commuting in Los Angeles: Always head toward your destination.
And the solution to this?
A light-rail line that would serve as a downtown connector by tying together the four light-rail lines that eventually will run into downtown. The Blue Line from Long Beach and the future Expo Line from Culver City end at 7th and Flower streets while the Gold Lines both run to Union Station.
The benefit is obvious. If built, the connector would allow a single train to run, for example, from Long Beach to Pasadena or East L.A. to Culver City. That means less time-munching transfers and more direct routes.
But isn't this just another one of those mythical rail lines that will never get built but this column likes to trumpet because of its unhealthy fetish about urban rail?
Perhaps.
On the other hand, the idea is being taken seriously in transit circles. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority staff already has declared the connector as its highest priority, but ultimately it is the politicians and their appointees who serve on the MTA board who will make the final call next spring when the agency cements its 25-year plan.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of the board members, has often said the connector is a priority, and this year he persuaded the board to approve a study of the project that must be done in order to secure future funding.
