Los Angeles officials have been working for years to deliver a suite of transit projects in time for the 2028 Olympics. Planners now hope federal infrastructure funding could reinvigorate the effort.
“If planners and political leaders can pull it off, spectators of the 2028 Olympics would experience a very different Los Angeles from the one traffic-weary commuters know today, one that would endure long past the Games,” reports Rachel Uranga for the Los Angeles Times.
“Olympic organizers are still in the process of creating a transportation plan. But with federal and state authorities spending record amounts on projects resulting from President Biden’s $1-trillion infrastructure law, local planners have a number of proposals for the Olympics,” according to Uranga.
As the article notes, the city is already underway with a number of transportation projects that will contribute to non-automotive mobility during the games, including the D Line (Purple Line) extension to the Westside of Los Angeles, the Regional Connector through downtown, and the long-delayed Crenshaw Line, which bring light rail close to the Los Angeles International Airport after passing through South Los Angeles neighborhoods like Leimert Park along the Crenshaw Corridor.
Moreover, the city’s leadership has presented these Olympics as a chance to accelerate transit projects around the region, with an initiative known as 28 by 28 (the plan has been described as “doomed” and “depressing” by local media since first proposed by Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2017.
So planners for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) have gone back to the drawing board to identify 200 projects “that could help support the Games,” according to Uranga, including “a people mover in Inglewood, an extension of the C Line (formerly the Green line) from Redondo Beach Station to Torrance, a rail line through the East San Fernando Valley, a cybersecurity update on Metro’s system, new protected bike lanes across the region and more bike-sharing programs.”
More details on the various states of these projects (some are already “on the books,” in the words of Uranga), the LA28 task force to coordinate transportation planning across jurisdictions, and the political prospects for the desired transit projects are available in the source article below.
FULL STORY: People mover, new bike paths and bus lanes: 2028 Olympics could fuel a transit boom in L.A.
Los Angeles Needs New Funding Sources to Meet Public Transit Ambitions
With an aggressive plan to build out numerous public transit lines in time for the 2028 Olympics, local officials are scrambling to fill funding gaps as prices continue to rise and catch planners and officials by surprise.
Congestion Pricing in Los Angeles?
The city of Los Angeles is looking for ways to close a $26.2 billion funding gap for its plan to complete 28 transportation projects by the 2028 Summer Olympics.
$8.5 Billion, 19.3-Mile Light Rail Line Approved to Connect L.A. and Surrounding Cities
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has approved a plan to build a light rail route currently called the West Santa Ana Branch Project.
Red Cities, Blue Cities, and Crime
Homicides rose across the nation in 2020 and 2021. But did they rise equally in all cities, or was the situation worse in some than in others?
The Shifting Boomer Bulge: More Bad News for America’s Housing Crisis?
In the first of a two-part series, PlaceMakers’ Ben Brown interviews housing guru Arthur C. Nelson on the sweeping demographic changes complicating the housing market.
A Serious Critique of Congestion Costs and Induced Vehicle Travel Impacts
Some highway advocates continue to claim that roadway expansions are justified to reduce traffic congestion. That's not what the research shows. It's time to stop obsessing over congestion and instead strive for efficient accessibility.
Tolling All Lanes
Bay Area transportation planners are studying a radical idea to reduce traffic congestion and fund driving alternatives: tolling all lanes on a freeway. Even more radical, the plan considers tolling parallel roads.
Federal SMART Grants Awarded for Transportation Safety, Equity Projects
The grant program focuses on the use of technology to improve safety, accessibility, and efficiency in transportation.
Fare Enforcement Upheld by Washington Supreme Court
But using armed police to enforce fare payment is less than ideal in the eyes of the top court in the state of Washington.
City of Greenville
City of Greenville
Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) AmeriCorps Program
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact: Mobility, Community, Possibility
City of Spearfish
City of Lomita
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
