Neighbors

• Parks and a bike path
• Follow good design examples from other cities
• Value of rail access
• Plan for safety and quiet

Parkway & Bike Path

The MTA's “transit parkway” plan calls for a park and bikeway along the light rail tracks on the 50 to 100-foot-wide right-of-way. This concept sketch shows the north side of National Blvd. in Culver City.

Design

Good design helps light rail complement its neighborhoods. Left is the historic St. Charles line passing grand 19th-century houses in New Orleans' Garden District. Right is an inspiration from Innsbruck, Austria.

Light Rail for Property Values

Access to rail transit enhances property values, as demonstrated by these owners highlighting it. Neighborhoods with rail access will become uniquely valuable as an alternative to auto gridlock.

Safety

Here is a pedestrian safety example from Portland.

Planning for safety of school children is particularly important for the schools the Expo Line passes. Phase 1 includes Foshay Middle School and Dorsey High in Los Angeles, and Turning Point School in Culver City. Phase 2 includes Overland Avenue or Charnock Road Elementary Schools in Los Angeles, and Crossroads School in Santa Monica.

As a good example, though, not only is the light rail line not a problem behind Long Beach's Los Cerritos School, it gives the benefit of taking school children on field trips by train.

Quiet

Quiet is very important. We're massively impacted by boulevard and freeway noise today.

The environmental process requires noise mitigation for light rail when needed.

The best way to evaluate the sound of light rail is to listen for yourself — visit, say, the Gold Line in South Pasadena, and compare the sound of an electric train passing to an SUV driving on the street and background traffic noise.

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