Rail Plan Is Off Track

I wrote all 12 members of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission asking them: What advantages are there in building an elevated rapid-transit system on top of the Ventura Freeway over building an elevated rapid-transit system along the Burbank-Chandler corridor?

It has been several weeks and I have received two responses, neither of which addressed my question. Both talked about a subway along Burbank-Chandler. My question asked them to compare elevated rapid transit along that route to elevated rapid transit above the freeway.

Burbank-Chandler is mostly flat vacated land. The Ventura Freeway is the most highly traveled stretch of road in the San Fernando Valley. Why is the commission considering putting a monorail overhanging the freeway but is not considering a monorail type system along the empty land in the Burbank-Chandler corridor?

Common sense suggests there are clear advantages to building an elevated system along the Burbank-Chandler route: The workers would not be subjected to the dangers of working on the freeway. It would spare the hundreds of thousands of freeway commuters the inevitable inconveniences that construction would bring. The system could be built much faster, for millions of dollars less.

GENE POMERANTZ

Tarzana