LAT: With Traffic at a Crawl, Planners Talk of Tunnels

[question everything]

With Traffic at a Crawl, Planners Talk of Tunnels

By Dan Weikel, Jeffrey L. Rabin and Daryl Kelley
Times Staff Writers

September 18, 2005

(snip)

But Los Angeles is in its 18th year as the nation's most congested metropolis, freeways have little or no space for new lanes and traffic experts are running out of time-shaving options. So civic leaders are joining engineers to consider burrowing the longest highway tunnels in America. "Tunnels," said Wolfgang Roth, a geotechnical engineer working on one possible project in the Antelope Valley, "may finally have their day."

(snip)

Giant tunnel-boring machines can drill quickly through the earth, cutting holes 45 feet in diameter. "If the hard rock stands up nice, the boring machine eats right through," said Roth. "Even with the fractured hard rock, as the machine advances, you stabilize the tunnel walls with rock bolts or 'shotcrete,' " he said, using the futuristic term for sprayed concrete. Another benefit of tunnels is that they seem to generate less political dust than surface roads.

(snip)

With Southern California's population projected to grow from 18 million to 23 million by 2030 — and with three of four motorists still traveling alone — the average speed on most area freeways during the peak morning commute is expected to drop from 34 mph to 20 mph or less.

Long tunnels, however, are not simple to build. Even the 31-mile English Channel train tunnel, an engineering wonder, took much longer than anticipated and cost double the original estimate. Southern California, with its mountainous terrain, underground aquifers and seismic vulnerabilities, may prove the ultimate testing ground for subterranean highways.

(snip)

Indeed, tunnels alone don't have the capacity to end congestion; they must be part of a larger strategy. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, for one, wants limited transportation money spent on projects such as light rail and subways. "I think our focus needs to be on getting people out of their single-passenger automobile," he said.

(snip)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tunnel18sep18,1,7941391.story?coll=la-headlines-california

[goclark]

1. I sure would not want to be in a tunnel during an earthquake!

I live in LA but I'd rather be above ground.

[realFedUp]

2. I agree....can we get monorails please.

[acmejack]

3. Oooh, oooh, Son of Big Dig!

I hear the cash registers warming up...

[flyingfysh]

4. as long as you're building tunnels

A better idea is this: put railroad tracks in them, and run electrified trains on them. Allow riders unlimited usage with a low-cost monthly pass.

Boston has been doing this for over 100 years. It's called a "subway".

[goclark]

6. Does Boston have earthquakes?

In LA we have a few subways but nothing worth talking about -- we need above ground IMO.

Why don't they take ne lane of the freeways and make it mandatory for commuters . Usually people that are going beyond the freeway need a car anyway --- if gas gets any higher I bet those that have SUV's and others will do some rethinking.

[KharmaTrain]

5. OK...How Does One Get Out Of East LA??

Recently I was in LA and driving the Santa Monica Freeway...even on this sunny day there were traffic jams all over the place and was real bad from the 405 all the way to Santa Monica pier. My thought was whatif a massive wave hits the beach or a big storm approached, would this road handle all those people trying to head inland?

It's not hard to imagine what would happen within the "stay outta" neighborhoods of LA if there was a loss of all power, sanitation and civil authority. And then where would people go?

Katrina may have taught some of us that the biggest terrorist threat is from Mother Nature.

[Greyhound]

8. LMAO! You're joking right? LA is, and should be, the prime example

of how not to design a city. I love SoCal, but it is a disaster in the best of times. 10, 5, 405, 134, 101, pick your freeway, they're all terrible every day. People can't get to work, let alone out of the endless city.
In addition, due to the utter lack of any planning, there is no way to fix it. :evilgrin:

[Greyhound]

7. Sure, cause they've done such a wonderful job with the light rails.

I mean, how many billions to build a system that goes from where the people aren't to where they don't need to go. :banghead: