Is Los Angeles Finally Ready to Take the Subway?

"In 1895, an eccentric businessman named Henry Gaylord Wilshire began developing a luxury residential community on what was then the western edge of Los Angeles. In a gesture of civic pride, or perhaps shrewd self-promotion, he cut a strip of land running four blocks down the middle of the subdivision and donated it to the city for a grand boulevard. But his gift had two conditions. The first was that the road be named for him. The second was that rail lines be banned from the thoroughfare."

"Today, Wilshire Boulevard runs nearly sixteen miles from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean. It is the densest urban corridor west of the Mississippi River, and one of the most congested streets in all of Los Angeles County. Wilshire Boulevard is also the most direct route through Los Angeles's core to various business districts, schools, and cultural institutions, making it a major artery for Angelenos who live on the city's cheaper, denser East Side, and work in the various industries centered on the West Side."

"These commuter patterns mean that every weekday, for three hours in the morning and another three hours in the evening, Los Angeles is choked by gridlock. During peak hours, it can take thirty minutes to cross a half-mile section of Wilshire Boulevard to either side of the 405 freeway. The five miles from Westwood Boulevard down Wilshire to Fairfax Avenue can easily stretch to an hour. Henry Wilshire may have correctly predicted the automobile's dominance in Los Angeles, but he did not factor in traffic."

"Los Angeles has more public transportation than people might think: the county's Metro Rail network, which opened in the early nineteen-nineties, comprises a hundred and twenty-one miles of tr"

Henry Gaylord Wilshire developed a luxury residential community in 1895 and donated a strip of land for a grand boulevard with two conditions: the road would be named for him and rail lines would be banned. Wilshire Boulevard later became a major westbound artery from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean, serving dense neighborhoods and connecting commuters to business districts, schools, and cultural institutions. The corridor’s directness and commuter patterns create severe weekday gridlock, with long delays across short distances during peak hours. Los Angeles has expanded public transportation through the Metro Rail network, but congestion along Wilshire has persisted, leading to a new rail line opening after many delays.

Read at The New Yorker