[Wright Concept]

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

I'm not quite sure what you're hinting at here. Care to explain?

No just that stop spacing with the same acceleration rate for vehicles whether they are light rail or heavy rail allows for a consistent rate of speed. Taking 2 minutes to reach a mile whether it's fully grade separated or at-grade with quad gated crossings.

Is that only for the Northside?

Yes, http://www.chicago-l.org/maps/track/index.html#current Click on "Red Line Howard Branch"

I think the whole core of Central LA (Downtown/Westlake/Pico-Union/Koreatown/Hollywood) has density to warrant 1/2-mile stop spacing. It has density to go toe-to-toe with any neighborhood in NYC, Chicago, SF, etc.

I would agree with that sentiment, I forgot about Koreatown. I had to respond in a hurry. I used to live in City West right by Good Samaritan Hospital and traffic was a nightmare between there and Downtown during rush hour because of the workers around City West and the people who live in the Pico-Union and Westlake areas coming home. I wished they had built the Red/Purple Line station there around Wilshire/Witmer. But this could still include bus only lanes or a streetcar between those two points to serve this role.

The distance between Wilshire/La Cienega and Wilshire/Beverly is a bit much, no? There's clearly a need for another station somewhere in there, especially given the commercial density that exists along that 1.3-mile stretch of road.

Yes it's a little farther however some sacrifices are made to gain speed with the longer stop spacing AND save some $$$ by not building an additional station that would be evaluated to death by the beancounters at FTA.

With La Cienega/Melrose, I suggested that to the MTA in an email and never got a response back (not surprisingly). The demand should be there because that's at the juncture of two major commercial nodes on the Westside, one of them known as "Restaurant Row" and the other as the new Rodeo Drive. Also, the Pacific Design Center is less than half a mile away. We talk about major activity centers; PDC isn't one?

That is more Cedars Sinai/Beverly Center area which would serve the whole of these points and is a current bus transfer point to reach those destinations.

Would cut-and-cover require cutting open the street? How would it work without disrupting service?

Yes, it would. How could it work without disrupting service is that you essentially building a new tunnel inside of an existing tunnel. I'm typing this from memory of how they did it for a subway station I believe in Toronto and Madrid.

* They would carve out the new platform areas around the existing box tunnel.
* Add create the columns for the new station walls.
* Lay new lateral beams across the span between the two new station walls.
* Connect the new lateral beams to the roof of the existing tunnel (to help create support to the existing tunnel thereby reducing service disruption).
* Cut open the sides of the existing tunnel in safe intervals.
* Use the existing tunnel roof and new lateral beams as the basis for a new slab for the new mezzanine that will tie the old tunnel and new tunnel together and then build a new station roof slab along the new platform walls and new mezzannine.
* Pour earth on top and walla, we'll have a new infill subway station.

If this were a bored tunnel this would be a lot more complicated because the tube creates the bulk of the structural strength in the tunnel and cutting it open will require disrupting service for a lengthy period of time because they would essentially have to build the tunnel over again at this new infill station.