1911 california outlook arnold transportation problem los angeles 1

8/20/2019 1911 California Outlook Arnold Transportation Problem Los Angeles 1

1/20

Containing

i.n ~ n

the Report Qf Bi9n

J. ~ r n o l d

on

5 Centll-- l.OO a Year

s

_.

-

-. -

.

SLJ·PPLEM.E,NT

.·.TO

LOll Angelell

and

San Francisco,

November 4, 1911

I. XI. No, 19

-

C

Z

o

mission,

which at that

time

consi st ed of

Messrs. Stoddard]

ess,

M. H.

ewmark

and

myself, the

members

of the

Board

of

Pub

lic

Utilities, at

that time cons is tin g

of

Messrs.

Meyer Lissner ,

].

M. Hunter

and

N. D. Da rlin gto n, an d the city engineer,

Mr. Homer

Hamlin.

This

committee

held

it s first meet in g f or o rg an iz in g a nd tr an s-

GEO.

A. DAMON,

Dean of

Throop

Polytechnic Insti

t ut e, Pasadena,

and manage r of

Mr. Arnold s Los

Angeles office,

upon w hom much of the respon

s ib il it y o f preparing th e report

rested.

acting business on the 18th day of Febru

ary

last. At th at

meeting

Mr. Meyer Liss

ne r suggested

that

in connection

with the

p la nn in g o f

the munic ipal

terminal rail

road, should be

taken

up

the matter

of

mak-

BION

].

ARNOLD,

Chief

Engi ne er , Boar d o f Sup er

vising

Engineers,

Chicago

Trac

tion.

MUNfCl l AL REFERENCE LIBRARY

A

,I ;

1 .

THt : PUBLIC L leRARY

03 CITY HAt.L

I S; NCELES 12. CAL IF

RNI

a

member, by

a

communication outlining

a plan made to that Boa rd on

the

16th

day

of

Januar,Y last.

The Board at once passed

a

r e s o l u t 1 o ~ requesting . me

to

prepare

a

commUnication

s ugge st tn g th e

municipal

railroad

with its advantages, to

be

pre

sented

by the Board to the

City

Council.

I prepared the communication, it was

adopted. on January 23rd, and by order of

th e

Board,

I

presented it

to the

City

Council

on

the

24th

day of

January.

Th e City

Council i m m e d i a t ~ l y t ook the mat

te r and. after holding a

special

meeting

dIscuss

It, ad?pted a resolution appoint

Ing as a commIttee to make and submit

plans for the municipal terminal railway

s ) st em , t he membe rs of the

Harbor

Com-

, .

~ h e

Transportation roblem

Los

ngeles

;J

r y ea rs I

have

believed that the

City

Los Angeles

would

find it to its inter

to construct

a

line of r ai lway f rom

harbor to its business

center;

i n fact,

ave long regarded it as necessary that

should be

done,

if the city is to reap

benefit from its h arb or which i t should

when t he Panama

Canal

is

opened.

THOS.

E. GIBBON

Chairman of the Commission on

Municipal e r m i n ~ Railways.

th:. fir.st of the year i t a ppea red

e that 1 1 vIew of t he ear ly complet ion

Can.;J,

th e time had

a rriv ed f or

Clt Y to 1

,: e up

the

enterprise of

build

this

mu

llcipal

railroad. Fo r

the pur-

e of. g

:tting the

matter

started

I

ught It to the attention of

the

Board

r

Commiss ione rs , o f which I am


2/20

PO

THE

PRELIMIN RY REPORT

ransportation roblem

of

Los ng€·

By

BION

J

RNOLD

OCTOBER, 1911

can be

handled

to

the

greatest

to the c omme rc e o f the city.

As the resul

t of

this

emploYI

Arnold a

short

time ago submi tt

commit tee hav ing the

matter

in (

report

i l lustrated by

t en maps,

wh

reproduced in full. A careful

stu

report will show

that

in it Mr.

complied

very fully with

the f

the committee hav ing the matter

and

that

in

doi ng so

he

has out l

v el opment o f

the

transportation

of the City

of

Los

Angeles

withi,

ten

years which

draws

a magnificl

of what these interests

should

in

become.

Mr. rnold's

report,

while I

general in this matter,

gives

<

outlined plan which should as

go by, be filled in

by

the joint

the citizens of Los

Angeles

and

service

corporat ions that

serve 1

and the business of the city

portation.-Thos.

E . G ibbon.

dred

million

dollars,

and

has had in charge

the making of transportation

plans and

projects fo r many other cities.

In

giving him t his

commission

a nd o ut

l in ing the

work which

it

was

expected

thar

he should


3/20

3

Distr ibution

POllulntlo tl Los Angeles

nutl

Ylclulty

A map ShoWing t he d is tr ibut ion of the

sleeping population as

near

as can be indi

cated by the

location

of dots each represent

in g 500

inhabitants-shows a

population

by

the last census o f

307,000

within a radius of

five

miles

of the corner of Sixth and Main

Streets,

which f rom

actual

calcUlation

is th e

center of the

p re sent c ity population.

Out

side of the five-mile circle and within the

l im it s o f Lo s

Angeles

County there was

an

additional

population

by

the 1910 census

of

197,000, makIng a total population of the

entire district, which may in time be called

Greater Los A ngel es amounting to

504 000.

is a uni qu e f ac t that

the center

of

Population

of this larger

district

is also at

Sixth and MaIn Streets. is sometimes

stated that the

center

of population IS mov

Ing toward

the

southwest at

the

rate

of

about

a c it y b lock each

year. This may

be

more or less

true

of t he c it y popul at io n, but

the growth of Glend...le Pasadena,

South

P asad ena , and t he towns In the

San Gabriel

Valley are at

a sutllcient rate to

balance

the

growth

of the bea ch communi ti es , s o that

t he c ent er

as fa r

as t ranspo rtat ion

to the

outer d istr ict

Is concerned probably will no t

move

fa r

from

the

present

Interurban

termi

nal at

Sixth

and Main streets.

There

Is

no

congestion

of population in

the

entire cIty and district. The greatest

denSIty is in a few of the

dis tricts near

the

center of t he c it y

where

t he re may be

found

105 persons to the

acre-but

when

thIs

is

compared

to the 200

persons

to

the acre

found in many

eastern cities

and to the

1200

persons t o .the acre In parts of

Manhattan

New

York

CIty I t wlll be

seen that Los

geles is fa r from

beIng

crowded. Some of

the

close-In

districts

which

now report

the

greatest

density

wll l l ose In

population from

thIs time on as

industrial p lants crowd ou t

the cheaver rooming houses. but there will

al ways be ... district just out si de o f t he busl.

ness district where the price of land

will

d ic ta te apartmen t houses with

a relative

h igh densi ty of population.

A stUdy of

the

growth

of

cit ies shows

that

with ai l expansion there is a correspondIng

contrac tion and·

that

there is

always

a per

centage of the population which tends to

crowd about the center . E ven If the

present

den sit y w it hin th e cit y limits,

both

...t the

center and in

the outlying

districts, is trebled

there

would still be room for

growth with

out

the necessity of adding

more

territory

to the ci ty-in

other

words, there is room

w ith in t he present city f or

three

t imes t he

population counted

by the

last census before

th ere is

any

d an g; er o f congestion.

mile or fifty miles. The c os t o f mov in g

goods

between any poin-t

in Los Angeles and the

harbor

terminal will be made up largely

of

t he cos t

Of

handling at both end s

rather

than the cost of

actual

transit.

The

use

of

the

auto-truck will

make

i t

possible to

deliver

from

wharf warehouse directly to store or

factory

and

thus

elim

i na te t he exp en se

of intermediate

transfers.

The

already extensive

use of

f reight automobiles

in

this

vicini t y is

proving th e practica

b il it y o f

this

-proposed arrangement.

2. As it may be impossible

for

the city

of Lo s

Angeles to

build,

maint ai n and own a h ig hway thr ough the count ry , and

as

it is

im

practicable, on a cc ount of

grades, to locate

the

proposed r ight-of

way in

th e

s tr ip o f land known as the shoestring strip, which con

nects

Lo s

Angeles

with Wilmington and

San

Pedro, it will prob

ably

be desirable to make some arrangement with the county

auth06ties

to secure this connecting

link.

Th e build ing of a

main

thoroughfare

o f t hi s

character will add

so much value to the coun

tr y through

which it passes

that

it should

no t

be

impos sible to

se cur e t he

enti re lengt h of the

right-of-way

a t a

v er y nomin al

cost. Such a right-of-way

would

make pos sible

th e

settling of a

beaut iful and fer ti le section of t he count ry

which

is now lacking

transportation

facilities, and would

make available

a number

of

. ideal si·tes fo r

model

industri.al c Ommunities such

as are

in great

favor in Europe and are

now

being in troduced

outside

of

New

York C it y a nd

several

other

large

Eastern cities.

DISTRI UTION

POPUL TION

L OS ~ ; ; ~ s ~ _ ~

~ : : : O D

LOSAH l.U

T ~ 1 4 J O j

em tOl L

Owe

_ ~ . U ~ _

_

C_c.

.. a c ~ . c 41 _ ....._

·c_w

ClTYi _ ..

T I j ~ C A L I F O ~ I A : OUTLOOY

c

This

right-of-way

should

be

at

least

250 feet

in width

~ r d e r t o p ro vide

fo r eight

railroad

tracks

an d

two

automobile

This

line and auto-speedway should be located through

·the en ti r e leng th

so

as t o avo id grade crossings

so

far as

prac

for it is t hi s fea tu re that wiII contribute the greatest point

immed ia te adv an tage to the plan.

In

fact th e en1erprise appeals

n gly on account o f

it s

a u t o m ~ b i l e

possibilities , for

Los Angeles

an

automob ile speedway with

all

crossings

eliminated

and

p ropo sed h ig hway between the

city

and the

sea is

most for

located,

both for

pleasure

and

business.

On such a

road

re would be no

necessi ty for

a low speed limit and with two

r oadway s ( so

that

t ra ve l c ou ld b e directed

in

opposite direc

without in ter ference) , the maximum

of

safety could

be as

The

automobile truck

is

being developed rap id ly

an d

it

is no t


4/20

T l j ~ C A L I F O R N I A O U T O O ~

Saturday, ~ o v e m b e

PASSENGER STATIONS.

6. Th e above program is based upon the

assumpt

working

agreement will be pos si bl e b etween t he c it y a n

pany

desiring

to enter the city

with its interurban

se

c ity should remain,

in

my opinion ,

in

complete

control

surface

rights

along

its

main

thoroughfares,

an d this

r

by the c ity bui ld ing all

subway

structures

under its

own

renting the use

of th ese

permanent

rights-of-way to

,

company for a sufficient return

to p rovide

for interest

and r a Sinking

Fund

of say I% per

annum,

tire

th e

investment

inside

of

fifty

years.

\tVith

an

assl.: __

men t o f

this

kind

it

would be possible if

th e

City Charter

for

the ty to

finance

the

e x p ~ n d i t u r e issuing

bonds

the debt limit

and thus

th e

c tty' s c redi t

could

be

'used

these transit

improvemen'ts

without add ing

to

the

cit

debt

burden.

7.

It

should be made impract icable to attempt the

tion of

the

present

spur

and

switch tracks

in the

city

an

An in'terchange

agreement

must therefore

be made

with

th

railroads for th e use

.of t hese t racks

for

the

delivery

an

tion o f f oreign car load fr eigh t. Th e

three rai lroads

ha

terchange agreement of thi s k ind among them e lves at

th

time, which involves a switching

charge

of $2.50 per ca

delivery

to

or f rom ea ch other's l ines-so ,that

theoretic

shipper

has access to

all lines

i rrespect ive of

his loca

practice,

however,

it is

often

claimed

to be

difficult

to s ec

cars fo r

loading

the

shipment is

to

be made over a lin

to

the

one

upon wh ich

the

shipper is located.

There

considerable

advan'tage

to the

shippers of thi district if

que st ion o f

spur- track terminals could

be regulated

co

This

regulation

should

cover

the

securing

of the

permit,

pensation

to

be

paid

the city for th e use

of

the streets,

s

as 'to safety,

noise,

smoke,

and

character of freight, but

pa

the

arrangements which

mu

t

be made for

the joint u e

tracks

so

as

to make

them

equally

ava il ab le for use in c

with not only the present lines, but

also

with all

futu

carrying

l ines-both.

s,team and electric.

This complete in terchange agreement

which

will ma

individual spur

track

part of

one

comprehensive termin

an easy

problem, but i really the first requirement

for

efficient freight handl ing arrangement

for Los Angeles.

8.

s far as the municipal road is

conce rned , the

number

of locat ions

along

San

Ped ro S tr ee t whe re loca

delivery tracks

can

be put in,

and it

may

be

that

the

on

'o rk o ut the ult imate comprehensive terminal scheme w

establish

these fre il lht

deliverv

sub-stations as part of t:

ipal sy tern.

Bu t

the first effort

should be

to es

ablish

that t he ci ty has su ff ic ien t standing in the form of

r i ~ h

powers

of regulation. control, etc 0 become an equa l p

an i n t e r c h a n ~ e agreement which

practically

will

combine

present and future

switch tracks

into one union termina l.

9.

In

developing

the

network

of

spu r tr acks

which

provided to

e rv e t he

industrial district,

t he us e of the

elec

motive

will be

f oun d de i rabl e,

if

not absolutely neces s

tr ack s of

th e

municipal ra il road

on

San Pedro Street s

equipped

for the

electrical or-eration of

freight

s ervi ce , a

ours leading

off

from these

main line

tracks

can have

shorter radi..

than

if bui lt for steam locomotives. i t will

that

the

swi tch t rack sys tem deoending on San

Pedro

service can

be made

much more flexible

t han th e

steam li

system. Advanta;


5/20

the development of the river

bed

itself

as a

railroad right-of'way

is a future pos sibi li ty which need not s er ious ly affect present plans.

Any elevated

structure

reaching

th e river, however , s houl d be

so

designed that

a sub-surface

or

lower t rack

terminal could

be built

so

as

to par allel a nd do ubl e the

upper

track capacity

at

s ome t ime

in the

distant future.

t he A rc ade Dayot s it e should

be

favored by the

railroads

and a Union

Station

arrangement can be agr eed upon, t he n t he c it y

should

adopt t he p la n

so

admirably

worked

ou t several yea rs ago

by

the Municipal

Art

Commiss ion and Mr. Charles Mul fo rd Rob:n

son

fo r

a beautiful

and

effective

approach

to be s ecur ed by w iden

ing and st raightening Fifth St reet from Lo s Angeles Street

to Cen·

tral Avenue. a Union

Station

is not pos sible, then it would ap

pear

belter to

encourage the Sou thern

Pacific and

Sal t Lake r oads

to

combine with

the Pacific

Electric

in a

splendid station adjoining

and

becoming p art of

th e

present

Pacific

Electric terminal

build

ing.

Union Depo t

at th e

Plaza

all

of

th e

competing t ranscont inen ta l s team roads

can be

brought

to cons ider a Union Depot ,

independent of

the Arcade

site,

then

the mo t natural thought in

regard

t o t hi s c ombined r ai lr oa d

entrance

to

the

city is to

have

one

g rand monumen ta l por ta l w it h

an

appropr iate sett ing o f op en spaces, parkways and surrounding

buildings.

This gat eway

to

th e city sho ul d

be

convenient

to the bus ines s

district with

plenty

of main arteries l ea di ng t o and from it; it

should be easy of access from the street railway

system,

and

par

ticularly

in he

c as e o f Los Angeles i t should

be a

mixing chamber

or clearinghouse

between

transcontinental and interurban

passen

ge r traffic.

t does

no t

take

a

lengthy

study of' th e

plan of the city an d

its transportation requirements

to d is cove r that

there

is one

site

5

TrnUSll

rtnt ion

Tlule

t

ro wth of th oDuuunHy

Inftll ne e

,nth passenger transportation,

distance

is

measured

by time

rather than

by miles .

This map shows

the

scheduled

number

or

minutes required to reach

arlous

localities.

the

shaded por tion showing the

time

zones

of ten minutes-twenty

minutes

and

thirty

minutes

of

the

local

surface

s)'stems

and the

c ir cl es i nc lo si ng t he

numbers

Indicate

the

t ime dis tance In minutes

from

the downtown

terminals of the

interurban

s)'stems.

With the city system, II w ll be seen that

the

sections to

t he west

a nd south ha ve

the

advantage. which

explains

why the city has

grown In

these

dir ec ti ons . The

city

limits

directly east and

directly

west

correspond

very nearly to the

thirty-minute

limits.

On

some of

the

higher speed Interurban

lines It Is now possibe to go twice as fa r

from the cen te r of the city in

thirty

minutes

as

can be done on the local

street

c ar s a nd

on the In erurb·9.n

tracks

running

south

th e

rapid tr an sit c ar s g et

ou t Into

t he count ry

fifteen miles In the time It takes'a c it y c ar

to reach the five-mile circle, This latter fact

lllustrates

the

advantage

of high speed

ter·

mlnals for the interurban lines, fo r th e c ar s

of n, e

southern

divIsion of the Pacific Elec

t ri c l in es have the adv.9.ntage of a private

r lght -o f-wa)' and of the use of a surface

entrance to their

terminal

which

Is no t

con

ges ted unt il It reaches Main treet.

This

r i g h t - o t - , , ~ a y . ho rever, is

on grade

and

wlll becomE' le ss a n

advantage as

safety wlli

d ic ta te c on st an tl y s lowe r speed,

but

It

serves to show the pos sib llt le s of a co ..

prehenslve high

speed

terminal

for ail

the

Interurban c ar s. P ro vid e such a te rminal and

there

is no reason why

points twenty

miles

from t he c it y' s c en te r should

not

be reached

In

t h l r t ~

minutes.

Under

these clrcumstan


6/20

6

TljsC LIFORNI

OUTLOOK

Saturday,

ov

which is

adapted

naturally

to

fulfill

the

requirements

of

a grand

cent ral depot

and

t rans fe r s ta tion and this location is in

the

im

mediate

vicinity

of

-the

Plaza.

The P laza was the exact center of the original

Spanish

grant

to the Mission

Padres

of one league each way from this central

po in t a nd this origina l

a re a o f twenty- ei gh t

square

miles

consti

ttrted the

city

limits of Los Angeles

up

to the year 1869 and was

no t

mat er ia ll y ext ended unt il t he

year 1896. The

Plaza

was

the

starting

Point

of

al l roads which

lead

in various directions, fol

lowing in their meanderings the natural

topography

of the count ry .

Then the street plan of the cent ral part of the c it y was th e out come

of effor ts to paral lel these original main highways. The result is

tha t the re is

no one s ite

in

the

entire

city which

can be

reached

so

easily from so many d if fe rent d ir ec ti ons as thi s o ri gina l P laza , an d

as

modern transportation naturally follows and accentuates prImI

tive

pathways, i t wou ld be bu t natural to

have thi s

original center

of the older town come into its own as the

permanent

por ta l o f

the

newer c it y which has grown up

about

it.

But there are many other

reasons

for

favoring

this

location

for

a

Union Station.

Here is a lready the beginning

of

a

splendid

civic and administration center-with the Court House. Hall of

Records,

Post Office and

Custom

House forming an imposing

group

of monumental buildings and a crystallized

sentiment tha t

in this

part

of the city should

be

l ocated t he

new

Cit y Hal l.

Further

more the

business

section, in seeking unobstructed sites for modern

buildings,

has

been growing

away from th is o rigina l c ente r.

values

of p rope rt y in

this vicinity

are not maintained

by

means

of public improvement of this character, this part of the city will

suffer

f rom slow

Paralysis and Los Angeles is too young and

active

a c it y to afford such a contingency in

any

o f i ts p ar ts .

The

natural l ay of the land at this point al lows

for a

double

UNION STATION, WASHINGTON, D.

C

Main

Waiting

Room.

deck

station with the trains on the lower level, while

the

broad

treets

and possibl e open spaces

will

allow

for

sub-surface subway

stations and

storage

tracks at a minimum

expense.

The gre at es t oppor tuni ty

exists here for the planning of

a

center

of

civic beaut y and

usefulness,

which would

hardly

have

an equa l

in all th e

efforts

being

made by the

cities throughout

the

country

to

surround their

pub li c bui ld ings w it h

impos ing s et ·

tings.

This repor t is no t

intended

to be a

city

planning program, but

as transportation is ,the fundamental of the c ity use fu l, i t

should

also become

the

foundation

for th e

city

beautiful. It is

pleasing to

find·

this splendid

opening for a portal which will

allow the city

to display

at it s

gat es t he evi dence o f

its growth, its

prosperity,

its

progress in government, and its

possibilities

in art.

The first

impressions

which

would

be

created

in

the minds

of

the

visitor would include

a

glimpse of the original Plaza and the Old

Mission directly

back

of

it. A

new Plaza ,

a central

p ark and op en

courts should take the place

of

the old buildings

between

the old

Plaza and the Post

OffIce,

a nd this

breathing

space

would

act as

a foreground to

the new

City Hall and to the Post Office, which

bui ld ings would natural ly

be

located with an open space between

them to

a ll ow for

the ir future growth. Back

of

these -buildings

would rise

the

Hil l S ide :park with t er raced gardens furnishing a

frame of

gr ee n a nd color. Have city bui lders

ever

had a more

inspiring opportunity?

I

recognize the

fact that

an

enterpr ise of

this

character

takes

form very

slowly

and only if it ha in it t he e lement s which wilt

attract to it a

consensus

of

favorable opinion can

it be

carr ied out?

I do no t advance the idea

as

an absol ut e n eces si ty a s I have

al

ready

pointed

out o ther

sites

for

railroad

stations which will

an

swer all t he commerc ia l purposes, but if the

city

is

really

desirous

of

putting its

front

yard in order , and

of

creating

such

a favorable

impression on the· visi tor within it s gates

that

his stay may be

all

the longer,

I can not but point out th at in the

d

this Plaza center will be found a

great

opportunity.

GRADE

CROSSINGS.

There

are three kinds oi grade crossings

which

it

eliminate, as

they

are an inconvenience

to

vehicle

tra

stant

menace to

life.

Of

the three

kinds , I

would

class the

crossings

of

electric

interurban system as

the

most dangerous,

the

main lines and sw itc hing tra ck s as the most inconve

transcontinental passenger

traffic

at

grade as the l

As a general rule I would say that it will not onl

but should

be

compulsory to

bring

the electric

interu

th e city

without

a

single

grade c ross ing and the m

complishing this

r es ul t a re

discussed

in a separat

report.

vVith

f re ight t racks and swi tching spurs , however

the

cost

of

complete grade separat ion would be so

prohi bitive under Los Angeles conditions. To comp

ment ei ther

by the

city,

by the rai lroad companies

or

tries affected would be too heavy a f inancial handicap

a

compromise

must be found.

Fortunately, natural conditions of topography pr

able solution.

Th e

s team roads

follow

the l ower

le

water courses

and

indus tr ia l development s have t ak

tiguous

to

good

shinpinl facilities.

Retail

busill Css

have sought

the

higher levels along t he banks of the

river. This

makes it possible by continuing the

bri

r iver and

present

railroad tracks.

to

provide

long

v

main highways, spanning the indust rial freight trac

remain

on

th e surfac e as

at

present.

r would suggest

that th e

first vi aduct of t his

cha

on Fourth Street

from

Main Street,

crossing

the

mun

tracks on

San

Pedro Street, cont inuing over the pre

Pacific

t ra ck s on and

contil1;uous

to

.

lameda

Street.

c

the

present

viaduct

over

the

Santa Fe yards ,

which

a

the river and is built over the Sal t Lake railroad

viaduct

was to

be

continued over

the

lowlands on th

the r iver t o a proner Krade on

Four th S tree t

in Boy

unbroken elevated highway would

be supplied

from

h

overhead structure should be amply wide to acco

stiee-t

car t ra ck s a s

well

as

to

provide

a highway

f

and other s tree t

vehicles and

pedestrians.

In

order to

avoid the possibil ity of damage to

prop

street,

the

height

of the

overhead roadwav

shoul d b

will be possible to col le ct and de liv er goods f rom t h

of the

buildings,

thus

greatly increasing

the

presen

handlinl goods in

and

out of warehouses and factories

the

viaduct.

Add

0

this

advantage the

privilege

o f

load freight to and f rom the buildings on

th e

lower

or

level,

and the double decking of the treet

will

bec

advantal e

which

will greatly add to,

rather

than det

value of all contiguous property.

the

Fourt h S tr ee t

viaduct proves

it s

usefuln

Street

viaduct over

the Salt

Lake tr acks , th e r iv er and

tracks can be

continued

in a

simi lar manner .

Another

connect ion between the business

center

a

part

of the city

across

the rive r and

tracks

can even

vided

by

building a simi lar viaduct for vehicle, p

street

cars on Sixth

Street, eX tending

f rom Main

S

Avenue,

thus in ime, providing three

main

highways

ness district to Boyle Heights.

From all of these

elevated roadways.

inclines, with

a

four

p er cen t g rade , s houl d l ead to the

street

level

points.

On account

of the

differ.ence in levels betwee

and

Los Ange le S tr ee t. th e v iaducts would

leave

Ma

bu t

very l it tle

rise. In

fact

h is

the natural depressio

place between

Main

Street

and Los Angeles Street

these suggestions reasonable.

Were it

not

for the top

place

the

wholesale

and industrial district

would

very

been scattered

in all

direct ions around

the

retail d i

lower

level between

Main

Street a nd the

river

now

f

industrial district which

is

next

to

the s te am road

tra

banks of the r iver . This contiguity

of

warehouses, t r

makes it practicable to r ever se the usual

order

of t

and subway s treets as f ound in

other

cities

and

to

el

highways leaving the secondary

streets

and swi tch t r

thus

provirling a

very acceptable

compromise

to

comp

aration, at a consirlerab

1

e less

expense.

Beyond

the

limits

of

the

strictly indu

trial

dis t

several

bad

grade crossings. Following the precedent

a number

of highway bridges

over

the rail road

tracks

with

the

foregoing suggest ion to carry the

main

highw

throughout the wholesale, warehouse

and

manufactur

the

c ity, i t would appear

best

to standardize the pract

and e lim in at e g rade s, a s

a rule, by car ry ing th e st

tracks.

In

connect ion with

g rade separat ion of

the

pa


7/20

l erritorlnJ

r o w tl a C lt y o f Lo s ngele

Th e

Plaza w as

the exact

center

ot

th e

original

Spanish grant to th e

Mission

Padres

tor th e

Pueblo

of

Los Angel es

in 17 1 an d

th e

area ot twenty-eight

square mlles or

one pan ish

league

each wa y from

th e

cen

tral point was the original lim its of th e

City of

Lo s

A ng ele s w hen

it

w as incor

porated Aprll 4 1850.

Successive additions,

as shown by th e

map,

have been

largely

to the

West of t h e o r ig ina l

center

an d there ha s ev ident ly been

a

con

test

b etwee n t he

call of t he f oo th ll ls

an d

th e lure

ot

th e

sea. Th e annexation of th e

shoe-str ing

strip an d t he c on so li da ti on

w it h W llm ing to n an d

San

Pedro

have

put

Lo s

Angeles

on

th e

map

as an actual sea

port. Th e bullding ot

a

municipal

harbor

twenty-one

m lle s fr om

t he P laz a

introduces

new problems

of t ra ns po rt at io n, t he s ol u

tion of which will have a

decided

influence

upon

th e tuture gro l th ot

th e

City.

The next

immediate proposed

additions

to

th e

City are

to

t he n or th

an d

west.

T he d is

tr icts

to

the south and

west,

howeve r, have

a natural

topographical advantage which

only

Improved transportation

facIlities dn

th e

other d i rec ti on can in a measure otrset.

The l ay ou t

ot

th e

streets in

t he o ri gi na l

city w as

larF;ely

t he r es ul t

of

tQPograph y

but

nearly

all of th e streets in t b e annexed

districts

have

been

platted

to c on fo rm to

th e

United

States

sectlon lines. The map

how t he o rig inal m ai n t ho ro ug hfa re s m ean

dered

away

from

the Plaza on

th e

easiest

grades. Al l

present

an d f u tu re t ra n spo rt a

tion facllities must be a tr ec ted by

t he se s ame

natural influences.

Th e

rallroads

se

..k

tIl

water

level route ..

an d

locations a.mi

th e

industr ial par t

of th

..

community must tol

low th e railroads.

The l oc at io n

t addi

tional harbor rallroad connections to

th e

South added to the

present

natural g.rowth

ot

t he i nd us tr ia l

district in that direction

wlll result

in a

growth ot

th e city

to

th e

south

an d west which wlll balance, -In a

measure,

the grow th

ot th e city n

other

directions,

making

Los Ange le s

a round

or

c i rcu la r c ity wi th i t s o rig in al origin n ot

fa r from

it s

eventual center,

The city limits of

th e

City of Los An

ge le s, how ever, Include onll

a

small

par t

ot tb e district, Which, under some form ot

central government,

wlll

no doubt be known

in time

a s G re at er LJ:>s

Angeles,

TOT l SOU

f

GAfNAJ lA

1699

HOLLYWOOD

CfTY

sCALe

L.._ =:lIo

__

e==:i _ _

ot::==

N M

T ~ g L I F O R N I O U T L O O ~

TERRITORY ANNEXED

TOTHE

CITY OF LOS ANGELES

ACCOMPANYING THE REPORT OF

SION

.J

ARNOLD

ON THE

LOS

ANGELES TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM

TO THE

CITY OouNCIL

S N p RO

JolTEO LINES I IJlCATE

GRFFITli

Fl IRK

e

- ..0


8/20

8

T l j ~ C L I F O R N I

OUT OO

Saturday, Novem

tion,

particularly

if

t here are

stringent

regulations

'Is

to n

and

the obstruction

to

the street for a ny

length

of time.

the

district

which lies

between

Main Street

an

Street is

turned

into

a n in du str ia l se ction se rved wit

switch tracks, there will be an add it iona l r eason for pro

eral overhead highways

across this

section

for

the

use of

and the l ighter vehicles, le av ing t he sur face o f t he

street

and s lowe r mov ing t ru ck s. this double de cking of

which is discussed in more det ai l· in ano ther par t of

t

p roves to

be

a

natural and

favored

arrangement, there

is

why

this

plan

should

no t

be extended

to

Los Angel es S

convenience

of

Los Angeles

Street

to the business cente

it

the logical location

for

wholesale

busine and

rec

very

fine

warehouses

have been

constructed along

this

s tr

are

two

ser ious d rawbacks , however , t o

its future-its

at orne parts and it? lack

of

witch track connectio

further expensive

buildings

are erected

this street

straightened and widened between

Fourth

and S ix th S

width of

at

l ea st e ig ht y (eet.

Even with this

increa

the handling

of

merchandise will continue to be hampe

street

congestion due to th e conflict between the incomin

going

trucks

and

the

present 'system

of loading

and

unl

con ti nue the use

of

the s idewalks as temporary stor

whereas t he s id ewal ks

were

intended

fo r another pu

the

street

can stand only a certain amount

of

~ h i s kind

tion much

of the future wholes ale busine ss

will natu

locations-but

by so

doi ng t he

convenience and

a

hich

naturally belong to

Los n ~ e l e s Street will

be

lost

The solution, in my opinion , IS to double deck this

tween

Fi r

t

and

Six th Stree ts , making

an

oppor tuni ty to

heavy freight

on t·he present s t reet level

and

providing f

vehicles a n un ob str uc te d h ighway on the

level

of the

p

ond story

and

almost on a g rade w ith Main Street.

Th e

proposition,

at first

sight,

may appea r t o be mo

radical, bu t

it

is

an

arrangement

which has

been proposed

c it ie s which are no t favored

with

as for tuna te a comb

favorable conditions

a ar e

found here. os ngele

natural f re ight subway alr eady constructed-all it needs

w-hich can

be

used

for vehic les. It

is

a gre ed by

all s

t ranspor tat ion problems that t he h andl in g o f mer ch and

community is as

important

from an economic

standpo

moving of passenger s.

In Chicago, millions

of dol la rs

invested

in a comprehensive freight

tunnel

system conn

business

and who le sa le d is tr ic ts w it h th e f re ight

termin

s imil ar f re ight subway has been under consideration

York

City. Although there is

now

more o r less

question

financial

success o f

the Chicago undertaking up to dat e

too

early

to

predict what the ult imate result

will be. In

Lo

however, the rapid development and successful use of

mobile

motor truck

will

have

a

decided influence

over th

method

of

local f reight t ransfer .

Th e

delivery

of car lo

directly to

or even

into the whole sa le

warehouse-the

of

goods 'by

escalators,

elevators

and

t rucks, and the

del iv

same means to an

auto-truck which

can leave

the

buildin

conflict with

the

incoming

merchandise,-i a system wh

adopted

in

Los Angele s

with a

minimum

expense.

T

deck

proposed

for Los

Angeles

Street should connect with

head veh ic le highway proposed

fo r F ir st S tr ee t and t

viaduct along Fourth Street,

thus

completing a system

mobile boulevards connecting

the

cen tr al bus iness d is

t he who le sa le

s ec ti on and

both

with the

local

freigh

l ivery yards. These highways would be entirely free fr

r ai lr oad c ro ss ings and

while forming

the

loop conne

ferred to above would a ls o e st ab li sh main thorough

tween

the

retail and

wholesale districts

and t he sec ti o

:ity

east of

the river, which ar e now

handicapoed

in

velopment on account of the

grades

and cross ings

al

Third, Fourth

and

Seventh Streets .

The

l es s t han car lo ad f re ig ht house d es ign ed for

car load lot s

should be as

near as pos sib le to the cen

business distr ict.

There

are many good reasons

fo r

freight

depot

of

this class.

the

suggestion for a

unified terminal for

t he u se

of all

the

p re sent and f utu re

suggested

in a no th er p ar t

of

this

report,

can be

acc

eventually, t,hen the local less t han car load f re ight bus in

be

provided

for

by

perhaps

one

main

freight

depot

o r mor e fre ight s ub-s ta tio ns to be located as the city g

the double d e k i n ~

of

some

of

the

main

tho

through the

industrial

dIstr ict should

become

an acc

fact, it is very

probable

that the

railroad

offic ia ls wil l

the advantage

of

this

arrangement

and provide two-sto

r0u es

with

mechanical

f re ig ht h andl in g

d e v i e ~

to

place

of

the one-story freight

deno s

and the hand t ru

are today

the most effective

package handl ing equ ipm

able.

,

In

this connect io n t he c it y

street

car lines sho ul d b

aged to r levelop a system

of p ackage

and light

freigh

ARTISTIC

ELEVATED

STREETS.

Mulberry

Street

Bridge, Showing Inc li ne .

That

elevated

structures-particularly through

industrial

districts-may be made to

add to

the city

beautiful,

as well

as contribute

to

the

city efficient,

is shown by t hi s p ic tu re

of

a viaduct recently finished at Harrisburg h, Pa. T he re

cent concret e b ridges

over

the

Los

Angel es R iv er a re equall y

good

illustrations

of

the possibi li ti es o f

the art is ti c

design

of concret e overhead s truc tu res.

miles in length for t he purpose of connecting factor ies and

ware

houses directly with the

railroads. There is

plenty

of

room

for

the

extension

of

switch-track

systems,

but

the convenient opportunitie

for

add it ions are l arge ly away f rom

the

business district . There

is

a district, however, d ir ec tl y con ti guou s to t he retail streets which

has

heretofore been

used l arge ly for r es iden ts and

re ta il business

purposes,

bu t which is naturally adapted for

wholesale

business

and

manufactories,

if

it o nly

had

th e a dv an ta ge of ca r load

freight de

livery. To

supply

this district with

freight service

will requi re the

use of some of th e ci ty

street

for rai lroad t racks as t he reach ing

of each

parcel of property over a

private right-of-way

is

becoming

more e xpensive y ea r by ye ar.

To

thus turn the

streets over

to

private business

i a

serious

s tep, and

can

only b e j ustif ied by th e

fact

that

it is the first duty of the city to foster it s own industries.

these industrial

t racks were

required

to

be elevated

or

depressed

th e expense would p rohi bi t t he p ropo sed use o f th is d is tr ic t for

industrial purposes.

To remove the

objec ti on to

the use

of

the

streets

fo r. f re ig ht ca r switc hin g it would be possible to limit

the movement

of

the cars

l arge ly to

night hours.

As

this

district

will naturally cease to be a

r es idence sec ti on and

th e car s would

be

handled

by

electric locomotives,

there

remains very

l i tt le objec-

t racks, the city. will be c al le d

UPOII

to pass

upon

the

plans

for a

passenger termlllal

fo r at least

the

Southern 1'acitic

and the Salt

Lake

roads

within

the

no t

far

distant future. One of the first con

siderations governing the a pp ro va l o f thes e

plans

should be the

entire

elimination

of

the

passenger

tracks

c ro ssi ng a ny str ee t a t

grade.

this requiremen t is

insisted

upon

the

grade crossing dan

ge r from all passenger t rain movement will be removed a the anta

Fe

t racks are

along

th e r iv er and

in·time

may

all

be crossed by

the

continuation

of

the

river

bridges.

Th e expense of grade separat ion

by

means of overhead street

via

duc ts should be shared

by the rai lroad companies ,

by the

city

and

by

the

local

street

car company .

In Chicago

the

plans for the

elimination of grade

crossings whi ch have been

mainly completed,

called

fo r

the expendi ture

of $150,000,000 in

round numbers

which

shows how important

this

problem

of

grade separation may become.

It

is

an improvement

which cannot

be much longer

delayed in

Los

Angeles , and

if the steam

railroads

are no t called up on to r emove

t he ir t racks from the city

street

level t hey should be expected to

contribute

liberally

to

the

compromise

plan

of elevating

the

main

thoroughfares crossing

the industr ial d is tr ict.

FREIGHT HANDLING.

Th e

industrial

efficiency

of

any

city depends

in a

large measure

upon

the conveni ence and adequacy of its f re ight t ermina ls . In the

building of Los

Angeles the

freIght

track

have been l oc at ed

con

veniently, and at the present

time

cannot be said to 'be inadequate

the serious problem is to pro\'ide sufficient future factlities, a easy

of

access

as the present spur

tracks.

Ther e are at present in

the

ci ty ten m iles

o f te am tra ck for

less

than

ca r load freight,

and

separate spur t racks aggregating sixty-five


9/20

This diagram s how s the number of seats

pas sing any g iven point going

In

one d ir ec

tion

during

the hour

of

heaviest

travel of a

business day.

As fa r

as the

scheduled number of seats

on each

route

can do

this,

the d iagram In

dicates the relat ive demand f or

transporta

tion

In various parts

of

th e communlty

both u rban and Int erurban,

This

map

shows at once

he lack or

cross

t own connec ti on s, and how nearly al l of th e

lines ar e radial

lines

from th e c en te r

of

the c it y

With,

as

yet,

ver y few

circuit

lines

which would divert some of the

seats

around

the business center

and a ll ow

the t raff ic to

redistribute I tsel f before

It

reaches the busi

ness d is t ric t.

The ci rcui tous

routes of some of th e

lines

ar e also

Indicated,

emphasizing the

difficul

ties

of

topography and

street pl3 n

with which

t he s ur fa ce c ar

system

must contend.

The large number of routes which oper

at e

al l

of

the ir cars

to

t he out er

end

of

the

lines

Is

noticeable, and

this fact taken I

conjunction with the ext en sion o f the sys

tems into outiylng

territory

Indicates that

the

local compan has a

liberal

polley as

to

ca r

service.

As

compared

to

other cities ha vi ng a p

pro?,lmately

the

same amount of

local an

nual earn ings ,

the number of mlles

o r s ingl e

track

Is from

45 pe r cen t to 50 per c en t more

In Los

Angeles than

In

these other Ameri

can

cities.

The

number

of

C3 r

mlles for

each

dollar

earned, however, Is about

equal

to

the a vera ge . T he size < f t he c ar s

Is

rela

tively

larger than

In mos t c it ie s

and

type

of

equipment

Is fa r

abo ve t he ave rage .

The good servi ce and perhaps

also

the cli

mate

in Los

Angeles

Is reflected

In the rec

ord

of

the

earnings

p er c ap it a which

ar e

h igh enough

here

to make the total earn

Ings

of

the

local

system

compare favorab ly

with

those of other America n c ities of 50

per cent greater popu la ti on. The riding

habit In

Los

Angeles

Is

about twice as

great

p er I nh ab it an t a s It

Is In other

cities

of about

the

same

size-which

would ap

parently prove that the rIding habit can be

cultivated

by

good

service.

T ~ s L I F O R N I UT k

_

.:z


10/20

TljgC LIFORNI OUT OO

Saturday, November 4

is only possible,

however,

by eliminating the interurban

electric

cars from the surface tracks and partic ularly from Main Street.

As soon

as

the

movemen t o f

the surface cars can be acceler

ated on Main S tr ee t d uri ng th e rush

hours,

a very

decided

im

provement in ca r service

can

be e ffec ted

throughout

the down

town section. An effort s hould be made to pass the cars

through

this

district in

such

a

way

as to avoid the

curves

at street in

tersections.

A

car

passing around a

curve

takes fully 50 more

time to clear

the

cross ing than a car passing d irec tl y across a

stree t at right angles;

th e

difficulties

of the

traffic

police

in

clearing the way

for th e cars

on curv es

ar e

much

greater

and

the threa ding of the cars

from the

traffic of one street i nt o t ha t

of

another makes impract icable

the

running of cars in pairs at

high

speed

at street intersections.

It is

quite

feasible

to

work o ut a s cheme o f d own-town ro ut

ing, which by connect ing the rou tes on opposite

side s of

the

city

so

as

to form through routes, will make

it

pos si bl e to have nea rl y

all of

the intersections

right

angle

crossings

with

bu t

very

few

curves

or

loops.

As

already stated,

however , this

great improve

ment in operation is contll1gent on taking the interurban rars

off the

Main Street

tracks,

which

can be done

as

suggested in

another Part

of this report.

.

The

sur face sys tem is singular ly lacking in cross-town

and

circuit

lines, particularly inside the four mI le ci rcl e. Radiating

lines have been p rov id ed

with

libera lity a nd exte ns io ns in to the

non-pay ing out -l ying d is tr ic ts have

been built even when the

long haul and the

small

amount

of bus iness

could

mean

nothing

bu t loss to th e company-but th e c ros s connecting lines,

which

ART ISTIC ELEVATED STREETS .

Mulberry

Street

Bridge.

Showing

Railroad

Tracks, Har ri sburgh , Pa.

are usual ly considered as desirable

parts

of a system of this size

have

been neglected.

In planning

these circuit routes,

two resul ts should be sought

one to ge t a

route

an d eventua lly more th an on e route , e ntire ly

a rou nd the c ity outside of the down -town con ge ste d distric t, a nd

the

other

result

is to use parts of

these

cross-town lines

for the

connection

of

certain parts

of

radiating lines,

thus

forming a

se rie s o f outside loops which will mak e it possible to increase

the servi ce

in

the

shor t -haul dist rict wi thout running all

th e c ars

to the

extreme

ends of

the lines

or

switching them back and

mak in g th e pa ss eng ers ta ke the

next

car.

• The earnings of the local lines are now increasing at such a

sat is factory rate · that

it is

no t

u nre aso nable to e xpe ct th e local

company

to make

a

considerable addit ion

to

it s

trackage each

year-but

these

extensions

should

be l ocat ed whe re

they

will

p roduce t he

greatest

good to the largest number. Exten ions

beyond th e

four-mile

circle should

be put

in with caut ion.

on

paying branches can only be operated at the sacrifice

of

possible

service· over th e rema in de r of the s ys tem and

it

is quite a ques

tion

in

city planning whether the opening

up

of new

sub-divisions

around

the

periphery

of

a city

before

the closer in sections have

been

fairly well bui lt up is a good civic policy.

Beyond th e five-mile limit it is to be expected that cen te rs o f

population will begin to

gather,

particularly at regular stopping

points on the rapid

transit lines r unni ng i nt o

t he bus iness

part

of

the

main

city. a sufficient number of these

high spe ea

outlets a re p rovi ded t he re will be comparatively

little

reason for

the

extension of the local

systems

beyond the th irt y-m in ute o r

five-mile

radius

circle, as

the

interurban lines

can reach the out

lying

district in a

much

shor te r running time. this interurban

system is provided with t racks enti rely independent of

t he s tr ee t

g ra de s a nd nea rly

all

city

stops

are el iminated,

t·

higher

pow

e re d ca rs should

r each th e

five-mile circle in

from ten

t o twe lve

minut es and in thirty minutes

should

reach cent er s fully twelve

to fifteen

mil es f rom

t he bus in es s cen te r.

This

superior

service

as

fa r

as time is

concerned , emphasi zes the

fundamental differ

ence between

the

city or local lines and the rapid transit

or

interurban lines, and

would

seem to

indicate

that

beyond

tain d is tance f rom the city s

center

the

territory

can be

served

by the

high

speed sys tem.

Th e time is

now ripe for

a

discussion of

this

whole

quest

additions

and extensions to t he c it y r ai lway systems and the

ent and future relations between the

company

and the

There

are a number o f fundamental considera ti ons which,

oplOion,

should

be

recognized.

First: The

business

of urban transportation is a natura

nopoly.

Here

is

one case where compet it ion

is

wastefu l an

effective. One city-one fare-through routes and uni

transfers

are

the re sults of ha ving

one

company serve

the

community.

Second:

This monopoly

should

be completely under eff

municipal cont rol, both for the protection

of

the communit

also

for t he s af egua rd ing o f t he

interests

of the

corporation

Thi s con tr ol

should

secure adequate

service

at

the

lowest

should encourage

the

opera ti on of the

road

at a constantly

ressing efficiency and should p rovi de ext en si on s and add it io

accordance with public necessity and demand. Public c

means

publicity

of

al l financial and operating r ecor ds and

effective,

the

public officials cha rg ed w it h the responsibili

exercising

this

power should be .able, honest and beyond the

of political

and particularly

local influence.

Third: On

the

other

hand

the

actual

investment in

property,

both present and

future,

should be secu re and pro t

Before extensions ar e required

or

rates reduced, the demand

opera ti ng expenses, t axes , main tenance renewal s,

amortizati

intangible values, and

a fair profit

t o cap it al

must

be recog

there

is a

surplus, the city and company shoul d

be

partner

mutually decide whether the surplus is to be u sed for the exte

of

the system, for the reduction

of

the

fares or

for th e

bette

of

the service.

Fourth: The

length

of time

of the

franchise

or

permit

t

the city

streets

should be indet ermina te . Th e city should

effective

and cont inuous

con tr ol o f all

it s

streets

and

this

can be

secured

best

by

the company surrendering its

present

o f t ermi na l f ranchi se s for a blanket permit securing a

te

dur ing good behav io r, and g iv ing the c ity th e

right

t o pur

the

enti re system at a fair value determined

up on an

agreed

Under these rest r ict ions I

can

see

no

re as on why the

muni ty should no t continue in comparative harmony w ith i ts

public utility transit company,

no r

why the c ompa ny shoul

give adequate

service

over a constantly growing system.

investment is protected, the company

can

proceed

to develo

property without fear of loss or confiscation. Th e advocat

municipal

ownership should

see in this arrangement

t he u lt

opportunity for t he c it y

to

secure the lines at a fair

price

w

worki ng an i nj us ti ce on

the

investors who

have

done so mu

bring prosper i ty

to

the

city.

A contract ordinance adhering

closely

to

these fundam

princ ip les should p rove

as e ffec tive in Lo s

Angeles

as a

s

o rd inance has p roven in Chicago-although it

must

be under

that

the

greater

den sit y of

street

ca r t raf fic in Chicago c

conditions

there which ar e somewha t

different

than tho

Lo s

Angeles

and t he re fo re i t cannot be expected

that

the Ch

settlement will apply in all of it s details to the si tuation her

INTERURBAN ELECTRIC

RAILWAYS

Los Angele s owes much of its prosperity as a commercia

te r and

i ts pre-eminence

as a resort

c ity to

it s interurban

el

system.

Located as it is, part way between the mountain

the sea, i t na tu ra ll y gets the benefit of the

extraordinary

g

of popul at ion and wealt h which

is taking

place

in all

direction

must be recognized,

however,

that had it not been

for

the

constructive policy fol lowed by t he p re sent

management

in

ducing the netw ork of electric lines

which

binds

togethe

different communities of

t he d is tr ic t, t he

City

of

Lo Angeles

would be less attractive both for

bu si ne ss and pl ea su re .

electr ic railway systems

play

a

large part

in

the prosperit

happiness of the pe ople of

this

en ti re sec ti on , and I believe

a fortunate circumstance that

the

enti re system is under one

trol. Much depends

upon

th e f utu re attitude

of

the c it ize

Lo s

Angeles

and the

present

owner s of

th e

system-the

Sou

Pacific Railroad.

Th e

continual

growth

of

this interurban system

should

n

hampered. Immediate at tention

must

be paid to the sub je

terminal faciliti'es' as t he p re sent

arrangements

ar e a lr eady

loaded. suggestion

has b een

made

in another

section o

report, for the use

of

San Pedro S tr ee t

and the

handling

o

interurban cars from t he lower floor of the present Pacific El

depot,

bu t while

this plan will

relieve

at

once

the congest i

Main Street and

provide

a

means

o f k eepi ng

the

cars

on

schedule, i t mus t be regarded as bu t a temporary expedient an

as a

permanent

terminal

solution.

There are p romising possibilities in

the

use of an

ele

structure

or

a subway running

from

the rear

of

the presen


11/20

T ~ s C A L I F O R N I A O U T O O ~

-

_ 6 _

_

~ E : ~ . : . : : : ~ . : = ~

, , .

witch or l ur T ru ck

rhere

are three separate systems

of

steam

road spur

tracks in Lo s Angeles .

These

·

re

located. pract ica lly para l le l

to

one another

along the

river

banks- the

Southern Pacific

occupying the

old river bed.

while

the Santa.

Fe extends along

the

wes t b ank of

th e

Pres

en t cou rse o f the

s tream. wtth

the Salt Lake

on the

east

bank. Th Is

natural

l ocat ion o r

the

s team ral lroads dictates th e limit s

of

th e

Industrial d is tr ic t a s

the

factories and

warehouses must be located whe re t hey

ar e

convenient

to

a spu r t ra ck

from

one

of

the

three

present

roads.

The three spur t ra ck s ys tems

are

prac

tically

Independent.

the main

connection

being at the

points

of interchange

shown

upon

the map. will be not iced. however,

that

the

two

networks

of

tracks belonging

to the Southern Pacific and tbe Santa Fe on

the west side of t he ri ver

cross

each other

at

numerous point s

IndIcating considerable

rl

va-Iry

In the location

of switch tracks In

thIs

district.

wlll be seen that If switch tracks

re

Installed

on

San

Pedro

Street that

an

entirely

new part of the cIty will be opened fo r in

dustrial

purpo ses. which

Is no t availabl

ro any

the

present s team roads.

wil l a lso

be

noticed

that

I t wou ld

no t

be

a dIf ficult matter to connect tracks on San

Pedro

Street

a t

It s

northern

end

with the

tracks

of t he Sou th ern

PacIfic

and

Santa

Fe and by means of th e Pacific Electric

tracks on Aliso

Street

with the

Salt

Lake

tracks on

the o ther side

of

the river.

H

t he fou r

track

road of th e Pacific Elec

t rI c I nt er urban l in e on Long Beach Avenue

should

eventually become ava il ab le for

In

dustr ia l switchIng purposes. the fan shaped

IndustrIal

distrIc t would have five dlyerglng

maIn

l in e f ee de rs

whI ch wou ld

allow

any

poInt In the dist rIc t to be etl ectlvely

reached

by

a

cross connection of

reasonable length.

• •

= :

_

SPUR TR CK M P

~ ~ ~ £ ~

o o ~ ~

S

v«L[ S

T ~ T 1 O l P ftOSLtP l

aTY

COl OCL

:1inal

bui ld ing and

back

to

and a cr os s th e r iver , with a connec

tion. in the v ic in ity of th e present S o ~ t h e r n Pacific

Arcade Depo t

to the four tracks of the Southern Division of t he e le ct ri c i nt er

urban system running

to Long

Beach,

San

Pedro, Santa Ana, Whit

t ~ r etc.

After

crossin , t he r iv er ,

th is extension

shou ld connec t

with th e Northern DivisIOn, which

serves Pasadena, Alhambra

and

the

other

foothill communities.

.

Outside of

t he a ss is tance o f a

f ra nchi se f rom the city,

this

en

tire imprO\ ement could be built by th e own ers of th e p re se nt

~ y s t e m without t he city s aid,

credit

or

money , a nd

although

th e

In\ estment would be conside rable, i t wou ld seem to

be

justified.

I ~ e l i e v e that th e

company

s ho ul d b e encouraged to work ou t

disclose

a p lan t o p ro vi de t hi s permanent way

for

an entrance

l ~ t o

th e c it y, f re e

f rom g rade c ro ss ings ,

and at the same time

~ s c l o s e

their

plans for a tunnel connec ti on running n o r t h w c ~ t

rom Hill Street parallel to S ixth Street. Several

years

ago a

t u n n ~ l enterprise was

proposed to take care of the

traffic

to

Sallla

o n ~ c and

vicinity,

b ut th e financial

depression

caused a delay in

~ h s h l n g the undertaking. The

growth of t he Hol lywood district,

the Opening up of the San Fernando Valley

and

t he e xt en si on o f

. e electric

lines

into

this d is tr ic t t h rough t he Cahuenga Pass

;oUbld seem

to be additional

reasons

fo r

the const ruction of

this

ou Ie

track

out le t t hrough

th e hills we

t

of

the

business

center.

\

ow that

al l

of

th e

interurban

lines ar e

u nd er o ne

con t ro l, thi s

western

s ~ b - s u r f a c e

branch

should be designed to connect with

t he o th er d iv is ions of t he sys tem I by a

sub-way

under t he stl{eets

of th e

downtown d is tr ic t

to

the Pacific E le ctr ic T ermin al a t

S ixth a nd

Main Streets.

Care s houl d be llsed ,

h o w e v e ~

in

th e

l oc at ion of t hi s cross-town sub:,, ay; so that it will not int er fe re

with

longitudinal

subways

which

eventually

may

be

located

on

Broadway, Spring 01 Main

Streets. It

will be a question. as to

which

subway should h av e t he right-of-way on t he upper l ~ v e l as

crossings at th e

same l evel would no t

be

advisable.

It will thus

be possible for th e interurban electric

company

to

be p rovi ded w it h a h igh s pe ed . t erminal equipment of its own

design, construction and ownership. These

roads

should have all

ent rance i nt o t he

city

ent ir el y i nd ependent o f any

other

transpor

t at ion sys tem, and if they are to expend the millions

which

this

s ugge t ed terminal will cost, it woul d s eem right

that they shou ld

have a l ong t erm

franchise.

An indetermina te franchise,

such

as

might

be adv is ab le w it h t he

surface

railway

system.

wou ld p rob

a bl y not be as applicable

in

thi s case as ,

on the

on e

hand, t he Com

pany

would not want to pa rt with their expensive terminals , an d

on th e other, the city would. hardly

care

to

e xe rc is e its r ig ht · to

purchase terminal facilities

only, without acquir ing the conttnuous

lines.


12/20

12

T ~ ~ C A L f F O R N I A U T ~

Saturday, November

Attention

should

be called

to the

fact

however,

that

although

the

building

o f th ese terminal

connections

will probably be

found

des ir ab le by

both company

and the

city, that

this

arrangement

ultimately will be found

lacking

in

adequacy as t he

extension ar e

directly

at right angles

to the city s

most

probable direction

of

growth and t he re fo re conge st ion a t a concentrated terminal even

tually

will

result.

t will

take

a number

of

years growth, how

ever, to

develop

this

defect,

at which

time

addi tional terminal

facilities will be needed in any

event,

so

that

t he p roposed ele

vated and tunnel

lines

which

can

be·

built

within the next

fcw

years, will always continue to be useful

up

to tneir full capacity,

and

their

building at the present wil·1 interfere in no way with but

rather

will supplement, future terminal

arrangements.

Ult imately there will

be

need

for an elongated sub-surface

terminal along

the a xis

o f n at ur al g rowth

a nd with

a

n umbe r of

stations

for

the distribution

and . col lect ion of passenger s.

Such

a terminal

would collect

the

electric

interurban lines of

the

west

and nor thwes t a t a point near the original Plaza, and interurban

liiles

entering

the

c it y f rom

the sou th , t he wes t and sou thwest at

a center located in the

v ic in it y o f

Pico and

Main

Streets. By

means of exp re ss t ra cks para.lleled by local tracks,

as the New

York subway,

it

would prOVide. convel11ent outlets for Interurban

traffic to the entire busincss distr ict. vVhile s uc h a n e lo ng ate d

terminal would serve a certain amount of.

short

hau l local patron

age, its principal function would be to provide a h igh speed

con

nection

through

the city for t he e lect ri c lines

radiating

to and

connect ing t he cen te rs

of population which

ar e

now growing up

THE OPEN

CUT METHOD

OF

CONSTRUCTION

Sub-surface railway construction in Lo s Angeles should

be

of

th e ope n

cut type

as

f ar as possibl e.

Thi s h as

been

described

as a subwaY without a

roof....

and is

particularly

ad ap ted to th e

climate

of Southern California. Th e

accom

panying i llus trat ion shows the

four

t rack depress ion

recently

cons tructed through the F la tbush

section

of Brooklyn, N. Y.

Many

of

th e homes a lo ng this road wer e bui lt after the

road was constructed. showing th e sma ll objection to

this

tY pe of construct ion.

all ab ou t the city.

The best service to these

outlying distric-ts

can

be provided

only

by the e limina ti on

of al l stops

on t he exp re ss

tracks

w it hi n t he c it y

limits

of

Los

Angeles,

except

the

four

sug

gested in the

business district .

local

stops

within th e c ity a nd

just outs ide

the city a re to

be

provided

in

connection

with the

high s pe ed

interurban service,

t hi s can

be done bes t

by

providing

four

tracks

for

some

distance,

using ·two of the tracks for

local

and two for express

service,

then

dropping down

to

three tracks in the more

removed distr icts ,

u sin g th e

odd

track for one-way rush-hour traffic into the

city

in the morning , a nd away from t he c it y in the evening

of

working

days and always with t he c rowd upon hol id ay s and

Sundays.

On

account o f t he l engt h of · many of

th e

interurban runs it

will be ,found more e conomica l to

store

the c ars

carrying much

of·

this

one-way traffic

n ea r the

central

terminal

dur ing t he middle

of

the

business

day,

an d the

design

of

the complete terminal

should

include provision

for

these

storage

tracks. Transfer

stations

should

be

p rovid ed between t he two

high

speed t ermina l sys tems

\v.here they intersect near

S ix th and

Main, and the subway which

will serv e the largest n umber

of

patrons should be

located

on

t·he

upper

level.

The

development of high speed t erminal s for t he int erurban

systems·

will have the same effect on the business center of Los

Ang ele s as

the

moving into the

pre sent c it y

limits

of a

large

amount. of the

surrounding

population. With real rapid

transit

to

Pasadena, for

instance, the

35 000

people

a t p re sent

living there

. · would be-

as

n-ear t he s hopp ing

c-enter

of Los Angel es

a

-residents

of

the

c it y i ts el f n ow

living

between the

three an

m il e c ir cl es . There is apparently .no

way

in which Los A

can ext end its sphere of

influence;

both for plea sure a nd b u

as easily and effectively as providing an unobstructed

entran

exit for the

interurban

electr ic system. The

rides pe r

ca

the people of this district are alre ady very high

bu t

eve

provement

which will

make it

still

easier to tra ve l from on

ter to all other

centers

will fur ther i ncrease the

riding

Th e r emarkabl e h is to ry o f t he bui ld ing

up of

the towns and

of this district and the correlation existing between

the

pro

of the

community

and the activity of

its

people

which

was

pos sible by the

splendid electr ic

car

servi ce can

only

be

couragement for still greater improvements

and extension

all

possible

betterments, the

building

of a comprehensiv

.

ngeles c it y

terminal for

the

interurban sys tem will be

greatest benefit.

Pending the

remova l of the

interurban

cars

entirely fro

surface

of

the s tree ts

of

Los Angeles city t here should be

rangement

made

which will make it

possible

to transfer fr o

sys tem to the other

inside

the c it y limits. The Pacific Elect

tem now operates about seventy miles of

track,

located

up

s tree ts of t he c ity

(not

including Wilmington and San Pedr

car ry ing out of the comprehensive

plan

fo r a

high

speed te

will eventually do away with the use of any tra cks on the

of the

streets

by the interurban cars-and

at

s uch time the

tion

of

these

street

ca r

lines

should be turned over to

th

company so as to secure one system for the en t i re c it y.

I n o rd er

t o obt ai n p ract ic all y t he s ame r esul t without th

incident

.to

the carrying ou t of the termina l

plan,

it

sho

pos sib le f or t he two compani es t o

enter

into

a l oca l t ransfer

ment, cover ing the

interchange

of passengers inside

the

city

only, and I would s ugge st t ha t

at

the first opportunity

s

agreement

be ins is ted

upon.

IMMEDIATE RELIEF FROM MAIN STREET

CONGES

There

can

be

little

doubt

that

the

step to be tak

ward improving

the

transit conditions in Los Angel es and

is to relieve

the

congest ion of traffic due to the opera

both

interurban

and local sur fa ce car s on Main Street.

40 000 ride rs on b oth systems are del ayed

from

five to fo rt

utes d urin g the rush ho urs each

day

and

as

many mor e

ar e

venienced

during

the non-rush hours, due to the funda

defects of the

t ransportat ion ar rangements a long

Main

Even a part ial l is t of t he se d ef ec ts makes a formidable ca

of possibil it ies for improvements.

At

the

interurban

terminal building of the

Pacific

E

Company at Sixth

and

Main Streets we tind a stub

en

minal

arranged in such a

way

that t he i ncoming track

north

division

of the interurban system i nt er sect s t he ou

track of

the

south di vi sio n. All of the ente ring

and

leaving

contain

curves

directly in front of the

building

upon Main

which car ri es a heavy vehicle and local surface

ca r

traffic

movement of the

cars

in and ou t of t hi s bui ld ing, theref

hampered constantly.

All

interurban

c ars using this te rm in al must wait the

to d is cha rg e and load th eir passengers and no pr ovi sio n ha

made,

by

means

of

storage

trac ks, to s upply

trippers or

to

ta ke the

place

of del ayed

cars.

The loading

arrangeme

no longer

sui tabl e to handl e crowds conveni en tl y

or comfo

In ord er

to

take a car from the terminal waiting-room

on

stand before a close d g ate until hi s car is called, and

schedul e becomes d isar ranged during t he b lo ck ade there

way of telling

when any

particular car is to be expected

quent ly t he

delays

to t he s tand ing pat rons become

exce

t ed ious and

when

the car does come there is a general sc

and contest t o obt ain a seat. The height of the car steps ab

ground level platform make s th e lo ad ing slow and inconv

especially to passeng

1911 california outlook arnold transportation problem los angeles 1

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