To Ease Traffic, L.A. Needs Much More Than Trains

A long, hot haul over the I-405’s Sepulveda pass corridor is always a good reminder of L.A.’s sore need for new ideas in transportation. That stretch consistently ranks as among the most congested in the country, and for decades has been the focal point of ambitious ideas aimed at solving the city’s infamous traffic.

True to form, the gridlocked Sepulveda corridor is once again at the centerpiece of the city’s transit plans, this time in a $120 billion tax proposal released earlier this month by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority that lays out nearly 40 transit and highway improvements over about as many years. It puts a big emphasis on rail projects, proposing a rail tunnel underneath that section of the I-405 (and placing a toll road there), accelerated work on extending the Purple Line subway to Westwood, extending the Red and Gold lines, and new transit lines in the San Fernando Valley and in Artesia—plus expanded bus service on some major thoroughfares and a number of highway improvements. The initiative would be funded by a half-cent sales tax increase (and extend a similar, earlier increase) for 40 years. To pass, it needs to win a two-thirds majority on the ballot come November.