Your Urban Planning Porn of the Day: LA County's Measure M (for "Metro"; overwhelmingly approved by voters thank God) and what it will actually do -- (edited)
The recently-completed Expo Line from DTLA to Santa Monica has been something of a blockbuster. That thing was definitely needed. Thus, the parallel Purple Line extensions (to Century City and then to Westwood) seem vital.
Since I currently live in the South Bay (near LAX), I'm looking closely at the north-south lines: Vermont Ave., Sepulveda Blvd. and the already under construction since 2008 Crenshaw Line. That LAX to Santa Monica connection along the coast seems like a no-brainer, just hella expensive.
Off the top of my head, some popular venues this new Measure will have an impact on include: LAX obv, Loyola Marymount University, LACMA, the new NFL stadium potentially, Arts District potentially... Artesia is interesting because it's on the way to... Disneyland! A connection from Hollywood and Highland to LAX is news to me and blows my mind a little bit.
As I've said before, busways/bus rapid transit are the more appealing, cost-effective and shovel-ready improvements right now in my eyes (e.g. the Vermont Ave. line). IMO, buses are the best way to reward the voters who actually approved this and get something going well within their lifetimes. It's $130B not counting federal funds, so more BRT lines seem in the cards IMO. But that's a subject for another video I guess. :-)
