147-624: The Arroyo Seco Parkway , also known as the Pasadena Freeway , is one of the oldest freeways in the United States . It connects Los Angeles with Pasadena alongside the Arroyo Seco seasonal river. Mostly opened in 1940, it represents the transitional phase between early parkways and later freeways. It conformed to modern standards when it was built, but is now regarded as a narrow, outdated roadway. A 1953 extension brought
294-481: A cut and over low areas on bridges. One interchange, with Solano Avenue and Amador Street, is located between the first and second tunnels. Just beyond the last tunnel is a northbound left exit and corresponding southbound right entrance for Riverside Drive and the northbound Golden State Freeway ( I-5 ). Immediately after those ramps, the Arroyo Seco Parkway crosses a pair of three-lane bridges over
441-663: A dual highway ) in 1932 between Cologne and Bonn . It then rapidly constructed the first nationwide system of such roads. The first North American freeways (known as parkways) opened in the New York City area in the 1920s. Britain, heavily influenced by the railways, did not build its first motorway , the Preston By-pass ( M6 ), until 1958. Most technologically advanced nations feature an extensive network of freeways or motorways to provide high-capacity urban travel, or high-speed rural travel, or both. Many have
588-466: A median separates the opposite directions of traffic. This strip may be as simple as a grassy area, or may include a crash barrier such as a " Jersey barrier " or an "Ontario Tall Wall" to prevent head-on collisions . On some freeways, the two carriageways are built on different alignments; this may be done to make use of available corridors in a mountainous area or to provide narrower corridors through dense urban areas . Control of access relates to
735-621: A "Parkway" until November 16, 1954, when the California Highway Commission changed its name to the Pasadena Freeway . Beginning in June 2010, the state began modifying interchange signs to remove the Pasadena Freeway name and reinstate the Arroyo Seco Parkway name. Signs that indicate route 110 as a "freeway" are being modified to "parkway" or its "Pkwy" abbreviation. Despite a quadrupling of traffic volumes,
882-401: A "Southerly Extension" of the parkway, even before the parkway was complete. The at-grade intersection with Riverside Drive was already a point of congestion, and the six lanes of parkway narrowing into four lanes of surface street would cause much greater problems. The two-way Figueroa Street Tunnels and Viaduct were repurposed for four lanes of northbound traffic, and a higher southbound roadway
1029-626: A bill was authorized to create a new independent construction authority to finish the line. The agency, now known as the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority, resumed light rail construction in 2000 and completed the line three years later. The now-renamed Gold Line, between Union Station and Sierra Madre Villa station in East Pasadena, opened on July 26, 2003. In 2016, the Gold Line
1176-561: A class of highways with somewhat less isolation from other traffic. In countries following the Vienna convention , the motorway qualification implies that walking and parking are forbidden. A fully controlled-access highway provides an unhindered flow of traffic, with no traffic signals , intersections or property access . They are free of any at-grade crossings with other roads, railways, or pedestrian paths, which are instead carried by overpasses and underpasses . Entrances and exits to
1323-707: A cloverleaf and trumpet interchange when it opened in 1937, and until the Second World War , boasted the longest illuminated stretch of roadway built. A decade later, the first section of Highway 401 was opened, based on earlier designs. It has since gone on to become the busiest highway in the world. The word freeway was first used in February 1930 by Edward M. Bassett . Bassett argued that roads should be classified into three basic types: highways, parkways , and freeways. In Bassett's zoning and property law -based system, abutting property owners have
1470-532: A four-lane road to the Los Angeles River , allowing drivers to bypass the congested North Broadway Bridge on the existing but underutilized Riverside Drive Bridge . A large part of the project lay within Elysian Park , and four Art Deco tunnels were built through the hills. The first three, between Solano Avenue and the river, opened in late 1931, and the fourth opened in mid-1936, completing
1617-620: A freeway, specialized pedestrian footbridges or tunnels may also be provided. These structures enable pedestrians and cyclists to cross the freeway at that point without a detour to the nearest road crossing. Access to freeways is typically provided only at grade-separated interchanges , though lower-standard right-in/right-out (left-in/left-out in countries that drive on the left) access can be used for direct connections to side roads. In many cases, sophisticated interchanges allow for smooth, uninterrupted transitions between intersecting freeways and busy arterial roads . However, sometimes it
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#17327910682041764-413: A full diamond at Orange Grove Avenue and a half diamond at Fair Oaks Avenue . In between those two streets it crosses under the A Line for the third and final time. Beyond Fair Oaks Avenue, SR 110 curves north around the east side of Raymond Hill and enters Pasadena, where the final ramp, a southbound exit, connects to State Street for access to Fair Oaks Avenue. The freeway, and state maintenance, ends at
1911-434: A larger number of guide signs than other roads, and the signs themselves are physically larger. Guide signs are often mounted on overpasses or overhead gantries so that drivers can see where each lane goes. Exit numbers are commonly derived from the exit's distance in miles or kilometers from the start of the freeway. In some areas, there are public rest areas or service areas on freeways, as well as emergency phones on
2058-499: A legal status which limits the types of vehicles that can use a highway, as well as a road design that limits the points at which they can access it. Major arterial roads will often have partial access control , meaning that side roads will intersect the main road at grade, instead of using interchanges, but driveways may not connect directly to the main road, and drivers must use intersecting roads to access adjacent land. At arterial junctions with relatively quiet side roads, traffic
2205-527: A milepost system but does not use milepost markers. In Europe and some other countries, motorways typically have similar characteristics such as: Two-lane freeways , often undivided, are sometimes built when traffic volumes are low or right-of-way is limited; they may be designed for easy conversion to one side of a four-lane freeway. (For example, most of the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway in eastern Kentucky
2352-447: A motorway is understood as a public road with dual carriageways and at least two lanes each way. All entrances and exits are signposted and all interchanges are grade separated. Central barrier or median present throughout the road. No crossing is permitted, while stopping is permitted only in an emergency. Restricted access to motor vehicles, prohibited to pedestrians, animals, pedal cycles, mopeds, agricultural vehicles. The minimum speed
2499-777: A national-level or even international-level (e.g. European E route ) system of route numbering . There are several international standards that give some definitions of words such as motorways, but there is no formal definition of the English language words such as freeway , motorway , and expressway , or of the equivalent words in other languages such as autoroute , Autobahn , autostrada , autocesta, autoput , that are accepted worldwide—in most cases these words are defined by local statute or design standards or regional international treaties. Descriptions that are widely used include: One green or blue symbol (like [REDACTED] ) appears at motorway entry in countries that follow
2646-527: A new alignment of U.S. Route 66 , and the old routing via Figueroa Street and Colorado Boulevard became U.S. Route 66 Alternate . The southern extension over the Los Angeles River to downtown Los Angeles also carried State Route 11 (which remained on the old route when US 66 was moved) and U.S. Routes 6 and 99 (which followed Avenue 26 and San Fernando Road to the northwest). The 1964 renumbering saw US 66 truncated to Pasadena, and SR 11
2793-600: A number of patterns. The actual pattern is determined by a number of factors including local topology, traffic density, land cost, building costs, type of road, etc. In some jurisdictions feeder/distributor lanes are common, especially for cloverleaf interchanges ; in others, such as the United Kingdom, where the roundabout interchange is common, feeder/distributor lanes are seldom seen. Motorways in Europe typically differ between exits and junctions. An exit leads out of
2940-481: A number of specified points. Although, in some areas, it was possible to use a standard diamond interchange , other locations required folded diamonds , or, as the engineers called them, "compressed cloverleafs", where local streets often took the place of dedicated ramps, ending at the parkway with a sharp right turn required to enter or exit. The highway was designed with two 11–12-foot (3.4–3.7 m) lanes and one 10-foot (3.0 m) shoulder in each direction, with
3087-624: A park and where intersecting streets crossed over bridges. The Southern State Parkway opened in 1927, while the Long Island Motor Parkway was closed in 1937 and replaced by the Northern State Parkway (opened 1931) and the contiguous Grand Central Parkway (opened 1936). In Germany, construction of the Bonn-Cologne Autobahn began in 1929 and was opened in 1932 by Konrad Adenauer , then
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#17327910682043234-457: A private venture, was the world's first limited-access roadway. It included many modern features, including banked turns , guard rails and reinforced concrete tarmac . Traffic could turn left between the parkway and connectors, crossing oncoming traffic, so it was not a controlled-access highway (or "freeway" as later defined by the federal government's Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices ). Modern controlled-access highways originated in
3381-609: A reduction in deaths in a range from 20% to 50% on those sections. Speed, in Europe, is considered to be one of the main contributory factors to collisions. Some countries, such as France and Switzerland, have achieved a death reduction by a better monitoring of speed. Tools used for monitoring speed might be an increase in traffic density; improved speed enforcement and stricter regulation leading to driver license withdrawal; safety cameras; penalty point; and higher fines. Some other countries use automatic time-over-distance cameras (also known as section controls ) to manage speed. Fatigue
3528-448: A right exit and entrance. The parkway's design is now outdated, and includes tight " right-in/right-out " access with a recommended exit speed of 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h) and stop signs on the entrance ramps. There are no acceleration or deceleration lanes , meaning that motorists must attempt to merge immediately into freeway traffic from a complete stop. While the curves are banked for higher speeds, they were designed at half
3675-639: A scenic parkway and the other for a commuter cycleway . The latter was partially constructed and opened by Horace Dobbins , who incorporated the California Cycleway Company and bought a six-mile (10 km) right-of-way from downtown Pasadena to Avenue 54 in Highland Park, Los Angeles . Construction began in 1899, and about 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles (2.0 km) of the elevated wooden bikeway were opened on January 1, 1900, starting near Pasadena's Hotel Green and ending near
3822-541: A separate roadway or altogether eliminates it. In some parts of the world, notably parts of the US , frontage roads form an integral part of the freeway system. These parallel surface roads provide a transition between high-speed "through" traffic and local traffic. Frequent slip-ramps provide access between the freeway and the frontage road, which in turn provides direct access to local roads and businesses. Except on some two-lane freeways (and very rarely on wider freeways),
3969-510: A similar system of express and local lanes for a maximum width of 21 lanes on a 2-mile (3.2 km) segment between Interstate 805 and California State Route 56 . In Mississauga , Ontario, Highway 401 uses collector-express lanes for a total of 18 lanes through its intersection with Highway 403 / Highway 410 and Highway 427 . These wide freeways may use separate collector and express lanes to separate through traffic from local traffic, or special high-occupancy vehicle lanes , either as
4116-411: A special restriction on the innermost lane or a separate roadway, to encourage carpooling . These HOV lanes , or roadways open to all traffic, can be reversible lanes , providing more capacity in the direction of heavy traffic, and reversing direction before traffic switches. Sometimes a collector/distributor road , a shorter version of a local lane, shifts weaving between closely spaced interchanges to
4263-522: Is a half diamond interchange at Marmion Way/Avenue 64 with access towards Los Angeles only. After the freeway passes under the 1912 York Boulevard Bridge , the pre-parkway bridge, southbound connections between the freeway and cross street can be made via Salonica Street. As the Arroyo Seco curves north to pass west of downtown Pasadena, the Arroyo Seco Parkway instead curves east, crossing the stream into South Pasadena . A single northbound offramp on
4410-447: Is a normal diamond interchange , and soon after is Via Marisol, where the northbound side has standard diamond ramps, but on the southbound side Avenue 57 acts as a folded diamond connection. The 1926 Avenue 60 Bridge is the second original bridge, and is another folded diamond, with southbound traffic using Shults and Benner Streets to connect. The 1895 Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge (now A Line ) lies just beyond, and after that
4557-609: Is an intermittent stream that carries rainfall from the San Gabriel Mountains southerly through western Pasadena into the Los Angeles River near downtown Los Angeles . During the dry season, it served as a faster wagon connection between the two cities than the all-weather road on the present Huntington Drive. The first known survey for a permanent roadway through the Arroyo was made by T. D. Allen of Pasadena in 1895, and in 1897 two more proposals were made, one for
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4704-599: Is considered as a risk factor more specific to monotonous roads such as motorways, although such data are not monitored/recorded in many countries. According to Vinci Autoroutes , one third of accidents in French motorways are due to sleepy driving. A Line (Los Angeles Metro) The A Line (formerly and colloquially known as the Blue Line ) is a light rail line in Los Angeles County, California . It
4851-735: Is controlled mainly by two-way stop signs which do not impose significant interruptions on traffic using the main highway. Roundabouts are often used at busier intersections in Europe because they help minimize interruptions in flow, while traffic signals that create greater interference with traffic are still preferred in North America. There may be occasional interchanges with other major arterial roads. Examples include US 23 between SR 15 's eastern terminus and Delaware, Ohio , along with SR 15 between its eastern terminus and I-75 , US 30 , SR 29 / US 33 , and US 35 in western and central Ohio. This type of road
4998-722: Is designated a State Scenic Highway , National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark , and National Scenic Byway . It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. The six-lane Arroyo Seco Parkway (part of State Route 110 ) begins at the Four Level Interchange , a symmetrical stack interchange on the north side of downtown Los Angeles that connects the Pasadena (SR 110 north), Harbor (SR 110 south), Hollywood ( US 101 north), and Santa Ana (US 101 south) Freeways. The first interchange
5145-472: Is limited by the capacity of the station and the grade crossing of Pico Boulevard immediately adjacent to it. The wye junction at Flower and Washington is a similar bottleneck, as trains on both lines must cross a busy intersection and freeway onramp at-grade. Accidents, gridlocked traffic, and signal delays at the junction can cause cascading service disruptions across both lines. Various grade separation projects have been considered to improve capacity and resolve
5292-655: Is necessary to exit onto a surface road to transfer from one freeway to another. One example in the United States (notorious for the resulting congestion) is the connection from Interstate 70 to the Pennsylvania Turnpike ( Interstate 70 and Interstate 76 ) through the town of Breezewood, Pennsylvania . Speed limits are generally higher on freeways and are occasionally nonexistent (as on much of Germany's Autobahn network). Because higher speeds reduce decision time, freeways are usually equipped with
5439-450: Is not lower than 50 km/h [31 mph] and the maximum speed is not higher than 130 km/h [81 mph] (except Germany where no speed limit is defined). Motorways are designed to carry heavy traffic at high speed with the lowest possible number of accidents. They are also designed to collect long-distance traffic from other roads, so that conflicts between long-distance traffic and local traffic are avoided. According to
5586-781: Is one of the six lines of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). The A Line serves 44 stations and runs east-west between Azusa and Pasadena , then north-south between Pasadena and Long Beach , interlining and sharing five stations with the E Line in Downtown Los Angeles . It operates for approximately 19 hours per day with headways of up to 8 minutes during peak hours . It runs for 48.5 miles (78.1 km), making it
5733-484: Is operated out of two divisions, Metro's term for train maintenance and storage facilities. Division 11 is located at 4350 East 208th Street in Cota, North Long Beach between Del Amo and Wardlow stations. The facility can house and maintain 86 light rail vehicles and can perform heavy maintenance including repainting. Trains get to this yard via a wye junction on the southbound tracks. Northbound trains can enter and exit
5880-446: Is planned to begin in 2025 with service starting in 2035. Metro estimates it will take 10 years to build. The A Line often operates at capacity, and various options to increase capacity have been considered, such as four-car or more frequent trains. Both have problems: it would be difficult or impossible to lengthen some of the station platforms, and the number of trains already causes delays for other vehicles at level crossings . Since
6027-456: Is pressure to maintain travel times and headway schedule requirements (e.g., a passenger trip from Los Angeles to Long Beach in less than one hour). Other contributing factors identified were the high population density leading to more pedestrian and vehicular traffic around the tracks, the diverse, varied socio-economic community around the line that creates literacy and language difficulties for public education campaigns, driver frustration due to
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6174-431: Is provided with separate carriageways for the two directions of traffic). Principal arterials may cross through urban areas, serving suburban movements. The traffic is characterized by high speeds and full or partial access control (interchanges or junctions controlled by traffic lights). Other roads leading to a principal arterial are connected to it through side collector roads. In this view, CARE's definition stands that
6321-407: Is sometimes called an expressway . Freeways are usually limited to motor vehicles of a minimum power or weight; signs may prohibit cyclists , pedestrians and equestrians and impose a minimum speed. It is possible for non-motorized traffic to use facilities within the same right-of-way, such as sidewalks constructed along freeway-standard bridges and multi-use paths next to freeways such as
6468-480: Is specially sign-posted as a motorway and is reserved for specific categories of road motor vehicles." Urban motorways are also included in this definition. However, the respective national definitions and the type of roads covered may present slight differences in different EU countries. The first version of modern controlled-access highways evolved during the first half of the 20th century. The Long Island Motor Parkway on Long Island , New York , opened in 1908 as
6615-594: Is the Cabrillo Freeway ( SR 163 ) in San Diego . The American Society of Civil Engineers named it a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1999, and it became a National Scenic Byway in 2002 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. Occidental College hosted the "ArroyoFest Freeway Walk and Bike Ride" on Sunday, June 15, 2003, closing the freeway to motor vehicles to "highlight several ongoing or proposed projects within
6762-453: Is the longest light rail line in the world, surpassing the 42-mile (68 km) Coast Tram in Belgium . The line's northern terminus is at APU/Citrus College station just west of Citrus Avenue and north of the two universities. The line runs west through Azusa before stopping at Azusa Downtown station at Azusa Avenue, north of Foothill Boulevard. Continuing west, the line crosses over
6909-545: Is the result of several changes, including infrastructure safety and road user behavior (speed or seat belt use), while other matters such as vehicle safety and mobility patterns have an impact that has not been quantified. Motorways are the safest roads by design. While accounting for more than one quarter of all kilometres driven, they contributed only 8% of the total number of European road deaths in 2006. Germany's Federal Highway Research Institute provided International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) statistics for
7056-408: Is two lanes, but work has begun to make all of it four-lane.) These are often called Super two roads. Several such roads are infamous for a high rate of lethal crashes; an outcome because they were designed for short sight distances (sufficient for freeways without oncoming traffic, but insufficient for the years in service as two-lane road with oncoming traffic). An example of such a "Highway to Hell"
7203-436: Is with the north end of Figueroa Street at Alpine Street, and the freeway then meets the north end of Hill Street at a complicated junction that provides access to Dodger Stadium . Beyond Hill Street, SR 110 temporarily widens to four northbound and five southbound lanes as it enters the hilly Elysian Park , where the northbound lanes pass through the four Figueroa Street Tunnels and the higher southbound lanes pass through
7350-606: The B and D rapid transit lines, Metrolink commuter rail , Amtrak , and buses. The entire section of the line north of Union Station follows the current and former right of way of the Pasadena Subdivision . South of Union Station, trains use the Regional Connector through Downtown Los Angeles. In Little Tokyo , the line enters the new tunnel north of Temple Street to serve the replacement underground Little Tokyo/Arts District station , where
7497-629: The Dartford Crossing (the furthest downstream public crossing of the River Thames ) or where it was not economic to build a motorway alongside the existing road such as the former Cumberland Gap . The A1 is a good example of piece-wise upgrading to motorway standard—as of January 2013, the 639-kilometre-long (397 mi) route had five stretches of motorway (designated as A1(M)), reducing to four stretches in March 2018 with completion of
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#17327910682047644-582: The Gold Line to the A (then Blue) Line fleet. These vehicles were used before their refurbishment. As of 2023, some are currently being tested on the A Line, and they made a rocky return to the A Line in late 2024. In 2017, the Blue Line received 78 Kinki Sharyo P3010 light rail vehicles, the first new cars for the line since it opened in 1990. As the P3010 fleet was introduced, Metro gradually retired all of
7791-674: The I-210 freeway and runs parallel to it, entering Irwindale before stopping at Irwindale station at Irwindale Avenue. After this station, the line continues west, crossing over the San Gabriel River and underneath the I-605 freeway, diverging from I-210 and entering Duarte , before stopping at Duarte/City of Hope station located on the north side of Duarte Road, across from the City of Hope National Medical Center . Continuing west,
7938-620: The Kinki Sharyo P3010 , the Siemens P2000 , and the AnsaldoBreda P2550 , but has seen every type of light rail rolling stock on Metro's roster throughout its history of operation. When the A Line, then known as the Blue Line, first opened in 1990, the line had 54 Nippon Sharyo P865 light rail vehicles, numbered 100–153. These cars wore a unique livery of several blue stripes and a single red stripe, reflecting
8085-618: The Los Angeles Flood of 1938 not destroyed it. At Cypress Avenue, abutments and a foundation were built for a roadway, but were not used until the 1960s, when a pedestrian bridge was built as part of the Golden State Freeway ( I-5 ) interchange project. In South Pasadena, seven streets and the Union Pacific and Santa Fe railroad lines on a double track combined bridge were carried over the parkway to keep
8232-471: The Los Angeles River and the northbound access to Riverside Drive on a new three-lane bridge. Through Elysian Park, a five-lane open cut was excavated west of the existing northbound tunnel lanes, saving about $ 1 million. The extension, still feeding into surface streets just south of College Street, was opened to traffic on December 30, 1943, again allowing its use for the New Year's Day festivities. While
8379-413: The Los Angeles River just northwest of its confluence with the Arroyo Seco , one rail line on each bank, and Avenue 19 and San Fernando Road on the north bank. A single onramp from San Fernando Road joins SR 110 northbound as it passes under I-5, and a northbound left exit and southbound right entrance connect to the north segment of Figueroa Street . Here the original 1940 freeway, mostly built along
8526-558: The Raymond Hotel . The majority of its route is now Edmondson Alley; a toll booth was located near the north end, in the present Central Park . Due to the end of the bicycle craze of the 1890s and the existing Pacific Electric Railway lines connecting Pasadena to Los Angeles, the cycleway did not and was not expected to turn a profit, and never extended beyond the Raymond Hotel into the Arroyo Seco. Sometime before 1910,
8673-867: The Suncoast Trail along the Suncoast Parkway in Florida . In some US jurisdictions, especially where freeways replace existing roads, non-motorized access on freeways is permitted. Different states of the United States have different laws. Cycling on freeways in Arizona may be prohibited only where there is an alternative route judged equal or better for cycling. Wyoming , the second least densely populated state, allows cycling on all freeways. Oregon allows bicycles except on specific urban freeways in Portland and Medford . In countries such as
8820-538: The United Kingdom new motorways require an Act of Parliament to ensure restricted right of way. Since upgrading an existing road (the "King's Highway") to a full motorway will result in extinguishing the right of access of certain groups such as pedestrians, cyclists and slow-moving traffic, many controlled access roads are not full motorways. In some cases motorways are linked by short stretches of road where alternative rights of way are not practicable such as
8967-424: The United Kingdom , do not distinguish between the two, but others make a distinction; for example, Germany uses the words Kreuz ("cross") or Dreieck ("triangle") for the former and Ausfahrt ("exit") for the latter. In all cases one road crosses the other via a bridge or a tunnel, as opposed to an at-grade crossing . The inter-connecting roads, or slip-roads , which link the two roads, can follow any one of
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#17327910682049114-490: The shoulder at regular intervals. In the United States, mileposts usually start at the southern or westernmost point on the freeway (either its terminus or the state line). California , Ohio and Nevada use postmile systems in which the markers indicate mileage through the state's individual counties. However, Nevada and Ohio also use the standard milepost system concurrently with their respective postmile systems. California numbers its exits off its freeways according to
9261-465: The "Pasadena Metro Blue Line." Planners envisioned extending the existing Blue Line (A Line) north of 7th Street/Metro Center, but it was canceled due to funding shortages. However, the mostly above-ground segment of the extension from Union Station to Pasadena advanced and began construction in 1994 as a separate line but was suspended again by 1998 due to the Proposition A ban. Later that year,
9408-647: The 48.5-mile (78.1 km) line is approximately two hours, including a brief layover at Union Station to change train crews. Southbound trips over the full line are scheduled at 1 hour and 55 minutes, with northbound trips scheduled at 1 hour and 55 minutes. The line's scheduled average speed is approximately 25–26 miles per hour (40–42 km/h). Top speeds on the line vary, from below 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) at surface level in Downtown Los Angeles, to 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) on grade-separated infrastructure. The following table lists
9555-510: The A Line due to the completion of the Regional Connector project on June 16, 2023. The Southeast Gateway Line is a planned light rail line, mostly following the Pacific Electric 's historic West Santa Ana Branch , connecting Downtown Los Angeles to the city of Artesia , along with other cities in southeastern Los Angeles County. It will link the southeast/Gateway cities with the A Line at Slauson station . Construction
9702-594: The A Line's right of way north of Union Station through the San Gabriel Valley was built by the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad in 1885. It was eventually taken over by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , as part of the Pasadena Subdivision , which saw Amtrak service until 1994, when construction began on the conversion to light rail. The light rail project was initially called
9849-464: The A, E, and L Line trains ran through the Regional Connector tunnel for final testing. The project officially opened for revenue service on June 16, 2023. Once the Regional Connector was completed, the alignment of the L Line was split into two parts at Little Tokyo/Arts District station, with the portion north of the station joined to the A Line, extending it to connect Long Beach with Azusa. The alignment east of Little Tokyo/Arts District station
9996-501: The A1(M) through North Yorkshire . The most frequent way freeways are laid out is by building them from the ground up after obstructions such as forestry or buildings are cleared away. Sometimes they deplete farmland, but other methods have been developed for economic, social and even environmental reasons. Full freeways are sometimes made by converting at-grade expressways or by replacing at-grade intersections with overpasses; however, in
10143-577: The Arroyo Seco Parkway was being built and extended, the region's freeway system was taking shape. The short city-built Cahuenga Pass Freeway opened on June 15, 1940, over a month before the second piece of the Arroyo Seco Parkway was complete. In the next two decades, the Harbor , Hollywood (Cahuenga Pass), Long Beach (Los Angeles River), San Bernardino (Ramona), and Santa Ana Freeways were partially or fully completed to their eponymous destinations, and others were under construction. The centerpiece of
10290-413: The Arroyo Seco Parkway would be a major highway, suggested that it be built as a parkway , giving motorists "a great deal of incidental recreation and pleasure". By the mid-1930s, plans for a primarily recreational parkway had been overshadowed by the need to carry large numbers of commuters. Debates continued on the exact location of the parkway, in particular whether it would bypass downtown Pasadena. In
10437-429: The Arroyo Seco and its valley on bridges, and a number of new bridges were built as part of the project. Only four of the existing bridges were kept, albeit with some changes: the 1925 Avenue 26 Bridge , the 1926 Avenue 60 Bridge , the 1895 Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge (now part of the A Line (Los Angeles Metro) ) near Avenue 64, and the 1912 York Boulevard Bridge . The Avenue 43 Bridge would have been kept had
10584-832: The Arroyo that can improve the quality of life for everyone in the area". The event was held again twenty years later, in October 2023. Over 50,000 attended the event. Mileage is measured from Route 110's southern terminus in San Pedro . The entire route is in Los Angeles County . Controlled-access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway , motorway , and expressway . Other similar terms include throughway or thruway and parkway . Some of these may be limited-access highways , although this term can also refer to
10731-485: The Blue Line on Saturday, July 14, 1990, and ran from Pico to Anaheim Street . The Long Beach Loop section to Long Beach opened in September 1990, followed by the tunnel into 7th Street/Metro Center in February 1991. The initial light rail segment cost US$ 877 million ($ 2.05 billion in 2023 adjusted for inflation). The route reached full capacity after one decade of service, and from 1999 to 2001,
10878-490: The Blue Line underwent a US$ 11 million project to lengthen 19 of its platforms to accommodate three-car trains. There were also plans since the 1980s to extend the Blue Line north to Pasadena but the connection through downtown was postponed due to funding constraints from the voter-approved 1998 Proposition A. The proposition restricted local county subway funding, halting the process of the Blue Line extension and other rail transit projects from advancing. The Blue Line
11025-535: The Blue Line's color designation and its Pacific Electric Red Car heritage. In 2000, Metro transferred all 15 Nippon Sharyo P2020 (numbered 154-168) light rail vehicles from the Green Line (now the C Line ) to the Blue Line fleet. These light rail vehicles were nearly identical to the older P865 model but were about five years newer and originally had equipment for automatic train operation . In 2012, Metro transferred some Siemens P2000 light rail vehicles from
11172-474: The Figueroa Street ramps, and similar ramps connect Pasadena to both directions of I-5. SR 110 continues northeast alongside the Arroyo Seco, passing under the A Line light rail and Pasadena Avenue before junctioning Avenue 43 at the first of many folded diamond interchanges that feature extremely tight ( right-in/right-out ) curves on the exit and entrance ramps. The next interchange, at Avenue 52,
11319-489: The L Line to the A Line. This enabled A Line trains to run from Long Beach to Azusa through the new tunnel. The southern ( Pico/Aliso – East LA ) segment was combined with the existing E Line between Downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica . The new east-west line kept the E Line name but uses the L Line's gold color. Two new stations were also constructed in the tunnel, providing more service to destinations and communities in Downtown Los Angeles. Formal studies and planning for
11466-539: The Long Beach Transit Mall while making a loop using 1st Street, Pacific Avenue, and 8th Street. A Line service hours are from approximately 4:30 a.m. and 11:45 p.m daily. Trains operate every 8 minutes during peak hours, Monday to Friday. Trains run every 10 minutes, during midday on weekdays and weekends, from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Night and early morning service is approximately every 20 minutes every day. The full travel time of
11613-461: The Los Angeles side of the bridge curves left under the bridge to Bridewell Street, the parkway's west-side frontage road . As they enter South Pasadena, northbound motorists can see a "City of South Pasadena" sign constructed, in the late 1930s, of stones from the creek bed embedded in a hillside. This final segment of the Arroyo Seco Parkway heads east in a cut alongside Grevelia Street, with
11760-452: The Regional Connector began in 2004 and was approved in 2012. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 30, 2014, marking the start of major construction. To accommodate the new tunnel, the existing at-grade L Line Little Tokyo/Arts District station was demolished in 2020 and rebuilt as a subway station approximately 500 feet (150 m) south and on the opposite side of Alameda Street from its former location. Starting on April 9, 2023,
11907-474: The Riverside Drive intersection with North Figueroa Street (then Dayton Avenue) across the Los Angeles River , opened in mid-1937. Closer to downtown, an interchange was built at Temple Street in 1939. Although many South Pasadena residents opposed the division of the city that the parkway would bring, the city's voters elected supporters in the 1936 elections. The state, which had the power to put
12054-409: The US, any at-grade intersection that ends a freeway often remains an at-grade intersection. Often, when there is a two-lane undivided freeway or expressway, it is converted by constructing a parallel twin corridor, and leaving a median between the two travel directions. The median-side travel lane of the old two-way corridor becomes a passing lane. Other techniques involve building a new carriageway on
12201-484: The United States, allow for limited exceptions: some movable bridges , for instance the Interstate Bridge on Interstate 5 between Oregon and Washington , do require drivers to stop for ship traffic. The crossing of freeways by other routes is typically achieved with grade separation either in the form of underpasses or overpasses . In addition to sidewalks (pavements) attached to roads that cross
12348-712: The Vienna Convention. Exits are marked with another symbol: [REDACTED] . The definitions of "motorway" from the OECD and PIARC are almost identical. In the European Union , for statistical and safety purposes, some distinction might be made between motorway and expressway . For instance a principal arterial might be considered as: Roads serving long distance and mainly interurban movements. Includes motorways (urban or rural) and expressways (road which does not serve properties bordering on it and which
12495-793: The bridge. The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge / Dartford tunnel at London Orbital is an example of this. London Orbital or the M25 is a motorway surrounding London , but at the last River Thames crossing before its mouth, motorway rules do not apply. (At this crossing the London Orbital is labeled A282 instead.) A few of the more common types of junction are shown below: There are many differences between countries in their geography, economy, traffic growth, highway system size, degree of urbanization and motorization, etc.; all of which need to be taken into consideration when comparisons are made. According to some EU papers, safety progress on motorways
12642-459: The bus rapid transit J Line at 7th Street/Metro Center, Pico , and Grand/LATTC stations. The A and E Lines diverge at Flower Street and Washington Boulevard . E Line trains continue south along Flower Street, and the A Line turns east onto Washington Boulevard before turning south into the former Pacific Electric right of way at Long Beach Avenue. This historic rail corridor has four tracks, two for A Line trains and two for freight trains. Along
12789-469: The closure of the original southbound exit to Fair Oaks Avenue after its location on a curve proved dangerous and the replacement of shrubs in the 4-foot (1.2 m) median with a steel and now concrete guard rail . Los Angeles paid for reconstruction of the interchange at Hill Street, south of Elysian Park, in the early 1960s to serve the new Dodger Stadium . An interchange with Amador Street once had both left and right exits and entrances, it now only has
12936-492: The common European definition, a motorway is defined as "a road, specially designed and built for motor traffic, which does not serve properties bordering on it, and which: (a) is provided, except at special points or temporarily, with separate carriageways for the two directions of traffic, separated from each other, either by a dividing strip not intended for traffic, or exceptionally by other means; (b) does not cross at level with any road, railway or tramway track, or footpath; (c)
13083-566: The communities on each side connected. Construction on the Arroyo Seco Parkway, designed under the leadership of District Chief Engineer Spencer V. Cortelyou and Design Engineer A. D. Griffin, began with a groundbreaking ceremony in South Pasadena on March 22, 1938, and generally progressed from Pasadena southwest. The first contract, stretching less than a mile (1.5 km) from Glenarm Street in Pasadena around Raymond Hill to Fair Oaks Avenue in South Pasadena, and including no bridges,
13230-502: The corridor, there are some flyovers to either eliminate grade crossings in more densely populated areas or pass over diverging freight tracks. Passengers can connect with the C Line at the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks station . Just south of Willow Street station , A Line trains exit the rail corridor and begin street running in the median of Long Beach Boulevard into the city of Long Beach, where trains travel through
13377-517: The early 1920s in response to the rapidly increasing use of the automobile , the demand for faster movement between cities and as a consequence of improvements in paving processes, techniques and materials. These original high-speed roads were referred to as " dual highways " and have been modernized and are still in use today. Italy was the first country in the world to build controlled-access highways reserved for fast traffic and for motor vehicles only. The Autostrada dei Laghi ("Lakes Motorway"),
13524-407: The extension back to its full original plan of reaching Montclair. Once construction is completed, it will be the first Metro Rail line to cross into another southern California county. Provided that there is approval and funding from the state and San Bernardino County, further extensions of the line can be considered, including one for a terminus at Ontario International Airport . It is served by
13671-404: The extension of Figueroa Street to Riverside Drive . As with the contemporary Ramona Boulevard east from downtown, grade separations were mostly built only where terrain dictated. For Figueroa Street, this meant that all crossings except College Street (built several years after the extension was completed), where a hill was cut through, were at grade . The Figueroa Street Viaduct , connecting
13818-485: The first built in the world, connecting Milan to Lake Como and Lake Maggiore , and now parts of the A8 and A9 motorways, was devised by Piero Puricelli and was inaugurated in 1924. This motorway, called autostrada , contained only one lane in each direction and no interchanges. The Bronx River Parkway was the first road in North America to utilize a median strip to separate the opposing lanes, to be constructed through
13965-412: The first half of the 20th century. Italy was the first country in the world to build controlled-access highways reserved for fast traffic and for motor vehicles only. Italy opened its first autostrada in 1924, A8 , connecting Milan to Varese . Germany began to build its first controlled-access autobahn without speed limits (30 kilometres [19 mi] on what is now A555 , then referred to as
14112-474: The freeway's median. In Old Pasadena , the line travels underground for almost half a mile, passing under Pasadena's main thoroughfare, Colorado Boulevard , which makes the Memorial Park station below grade. The station serves most of Pasadena's fine dining, shops, malls, and civic center. The line continues south through downtown Pasadena and South Pasadena , primarily at grade. North of Highland Park,
14259-510: The high ridership (over 70,000 per day) was a contributor: The MBL has one of the highest ridership counts for light rail lines in the Country. This factor is perhaps the most important contributor to the grade-crossing accident rate. The high ridership results in increased pedestrian traffic near stations compared to other light rail systems. In addition, although MTA Operations does not allow high passenger loads to dictate safe operations, there
14406-504: The highway are provided at interchanges by slip roads (ramps), which allow for speed changes between the highway and arterials and collector roads . On the controlled-access highway, opposing directions of travel are generally separated by a median strip or central reservation containing a traffic barrier or grass. Elimination of conflicts with other directions of traffic dramatically improves safety, while increasing traffic capacity and speed. Controlled-access highways evolved during
14553-403: The highway through South Pasadena was not completed until January 30, 1941, and landscaping work continued through September. The final cost of $ 5.75 million, under $ 1 million per mile, was extremely low for a freeway project because the terrain was favorable for grade separations. The state began upgrading the four-lane North Figueroa Street extension (then part of Route 165 ) in October 1940 as
14700-537: The intersection with Glenarm Street, but the six- and four-lane Arroyo Parkway, now maintained by the city of Pasadena, continues north as a surface road to Colorado Boulevard (historic U.S. Route 66 ) and beyond to Holly Street near the Memorial Park A Line station. According to CalTrans in 2016, the average annual daily traffic (AADT) on the Arroyo Seco Parkway was 78,000 car trips at Orange Grove Blvd, 100,000 car trips at Ave 64, and 123,000 car trips at Ave 43. The Arroyo Seco ( Spanish : "dry gulch, or streambed")
14847-469: The issues with this section of track. Over 120 motorists and pedestrians have been killed at A Line level crossings since 1990. There have been more than 800 collisions, making the line easily the country's deadliest and most collision-prone rail line. In 1998, the MTA commissioned Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. to evaluate the cause of Blue Line collisions and recommend affordable solutions. The study reported
14994-554: The late 1920s, Los Angeles acquired properties between San Fernando Road and Pasadena Avenue, and City Engineer Lloyd Aldrich began grading between Avenues 60 and 66 in the early 1930s. By June 1932, residents of Highland Park and Garvanza , who had paid special assessments to finance improvement of the park, became suspicious of what appeared to be a road, then graded along the Arroyo Seco's west side between Via Marisol (then Hermon Avenue) and Princess Drive. Merchants on North Figueroa Street (then Pasadena Avenue) also objected, due to
15141-574: The line continues, with a handful of stations serving the hillside areas north of downtown, including Lincoln Heights , Mount Washington , and the Southwest Museum of the American Indian . Northeast of Chinatown , the line crosses over the Los Angeles River on an elevated viaduct. Continuing on the elevated viaduct, the line stops at Chinatown station before arriving at Union Station . At Union Station, passengers can transfer to
15288-617: The line crosses over the Arroyo Seco Parkway (State Route 110) via the Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge towards Highland Park . After Highland Park station , the line runs in the median of Marmion Way, where trains go at only 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). After Avenue 50, the line runs primarily at grade in its own right of way, except for a short tunnel underneath the intersection of Figueroa Street and Pasadena Avenue. From here,
15435-442: The line has undergone numerous upgrades to improve its capacity, safety, and reliability. Plans to extend the line north to Pasadena in the San Gabriel Valley surfaced in the 1980s but were postponed due to funding constraints. The Gold Line (renamed the L Line in 2020) completed a segment of the planned extension from Union Station to Pasadena on a separate line. It opened in 2003 and extended east to Azusa in 2016. Planning for
15582-455: The line merges with the E Line. The two lines turn west to run under 2nd Street and the 2nd Street Tunnel , as well as the B and D lines, with clearances as low as 7 feet (2.1 m). The Regional Connector tunnel connects to the north end of 7th Street/Metro Center station , the former northern terminal of the A Line. The line continues south along Flower Street, transitioning from underground to street level at 11th St. Passengers can connect to
15729-518: The line parallels Duarte Road, entering Monrovia , before diverging northwest just before arriving at Monrovia station . Entering Arcadia , the line crosses all street crossings on bridges except for First Avenue at the at-grade Arcadia station . Continuing west, the line reconverges with and enters the median of I-210 and continues west to Sierra Madre Villa station in Pasadena . Six stations serve different parts of Pasadena, with three of them in
15876-408: The loss of business they would suffer from a bypass. Work stopped while the interested parties could work out the details, although, in late 1932 and early 1933, Aldrich was authorized to grade a cheaper route along the east side between Avenue 35 and Hermon Avenue. To the north, Pasadena and South Pasadena endorsed in 1934 what was essentially Hincks's 1916 plan, but lacked the money to build it. A bill
16023-469: The mayor of Cologne . The German Autobahn became the first nationwide highway system. In Canada , the first precursor with semi-controlled access was The Middle Road between Hamilton and Toronto , which featured a median divider between opposing traffic flow, as well as the nation's first cloverleaf interchange . This highway developed into the Queen Elizabeth Way , which featured
16170-475: The modern standard. A three-year Caltrans study determined that the parkway has a crash rate that is twice that of comparable highways, with the primary factor being the lack of acceleration and deceleration lanes. LAist noted that many motorists find the act of merging onto the parkway to be "terrifying". The Arroyo Seco Parkway was the first freeway in the Western United States. It became
16317-400: The motorway system, whilst a junction is a crossing between motorways or a split/merge of two motorways. The motorway rules end at exits, but not at junctions. However, on some bridges, motorways, without changing appearance, temporarily end between the two exits closest to the bridge (or tunnel), and continue as dual carriageways . This is in order to give slower vehicles a possibility to use
16464-560: The northern extension resumed in the early 2000s as part of the Regional Connector Transit Project , with construction starting in 2014. The project enabled A Line trains to run north to the San Gabriel Valley by constructing a light rail tunnel in Downtown Los Angeles, connecting the A Line to the L Line. The A Line's current Azusa–Long Beach service commenced in June 2023 with the completion of
16611-562: The northwest. (LA Metro's A Line [formerly the Gold Line ] provides light rail service along the former Santa Fe Railway line.) The state legislature designated the original section of the Parkway, north of the Figueroa Street Viaduct, as a "California Historic Parkway" (part of the State Scenic Highway System reserved for freeways built before 1945) in 1993; the only other highway so designated
16758-431: The opening of the Regional Connector, ridership on the A Line continues to increase, potentially resulting in even more capacity problems. One of the biggest constraints on the capacity of the A and E lines is the at-grade section along Flower Street in Downtown Los Angeles, especially Pico Station and the wye junction at Flower and Washington. Pico Station serves both lines and cannot be bypassed, so service on both lines
16905-685: The original Gold Line to Pasadena, and the first phase of the Foothill Extension is being built by the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority. The original plan called for the extension to end at Montclair in San Bernardino County , but budget challenges forced the construction authority to cut the line back to Pomona and delay further construction. On July 9, 2024, the state of California released $ 500 million in funding to A Line extension projects, with San Bernardino County funding an extra $ 80 million, effectively reverting
17052-401: The original roadway north of the Los Angeles River largely remains as it was when it opened in 1940. Trucks and buses were banned in 1943, though the bus restriction has since been dropped; this has kept the freeway in good condition. Except for the Golden State Freeway ( I-5 ) interchange near the river, completed in 1962, the few structural changes to the freeway north of the river include
17199-439: The other. Other methods involve constructing a service drive that shortens the long driveways (typically by less than 100 metres (330 ft)). An interchange or a junction is a highway layout that permits traffic from one controlled-access highway to access another and vice versa, whereas an access point is a highway layout where traffic from a distributor or local road can join a controlled-access highway. Some countries, such as
17346-747: The park, while others, particularly those backed by the Automobile Club of Southern California (ACSC), had as their primary purpose a fast road connecting the two cities. The first plan that left the Arroyo Seco in South Pasadena to better serve downtown Pasadena was drawn up by Pasadena City Engineer Harvey W. Hincks in 1916 and supported by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and ACSC. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Harland Bartholomew 's 1924 Major Street Traffic Plan for Los Angeles , while concentrating on traffic relief, and noting that
17493-543: The parkway to avoid damages from future floods. A number of state engineers toured East Coast roads in early 1938, including Chicago 's Lake Shore Drive , full and modified cloverleaf interchanges in Massachusetts and New Jersey , and Robert Moses 's parkway system in New York City . The parkway was the first road built in California under a 1939 freeway law that allowed access to be completely limited to
17640-501: The project, incorporating the Union Station–Pasadena–Azusa portion of the L Line. Subsequently, the L Line ceased service, and as part of the project, three additional downtown stations opened in the constructed tunnel alignment. Construction is underway to extend the A Line further east to Pomona and Montclair . The A Line runs 48.5 miles (78.1 km) between Azusa and Downtown Long Beach , serving 44 stations. It
17787-477: The rate is higher than the risk on urban roads. Speeds are higher on rural roads and autobahns than urban roads, increasing the severity potential of a crash. According to ETSC, German motorways without a speed limit, but with a 130 km/h (81 mph) speed recommendation, are 25% more deadly than motorways with a speed limit. Germany also introduced some 130 km/h (81 mph) speed limits on various motorway sections that were not limited. This generated
17934-756: The right of way with freight rail between Willowbrook station and Artesia station. The gates prevent drivers from going around lowered gates. Metro also improved the safety of the A Line's pedestrian crossings by 2018. On Metro Rail's internal timetables, the A Line is called line 801 . Because of the length of the line, operators do not take trains from end to end, swapping out at Union Station. Trains are operated between APU/Citrus College and Union Station by employees based at Division 24 in Monrovia. Between Long Beach and Union Station, operators are based out of Division 11 in Rancho Dominguez. The A Line
18081-643: The rights of light , air and access to highways, but not parkways and freeways; the latter two are distinguished in that the purpose of a parkway is recreation, while the purpose of a freeway is movement. Thus, as originally conceived, a freeway is simply a strip of public land devoted to movement to which abutting property owners do not have rights of light, air or access. Freeways, by definition, have no at-grade intersections with other roads, railroads or multi-use trails . Therefore, no traffic signals are needed and through traffic on freeways does not normally need to stop at traffic signals. Some countries, such as
18228-609: The road where it wished even had South Pasadena continued to oppose it, approved the route on April 4, 1936. The route used the Arroyo Seco's west bank to near Hough Street, where it crossed to the east and cut through South Pasadena to the south end of Broadway (now Arroyo Parkway) in Pasadena. Another project, the Arroyo Seco Flood Control Channel , was built by the Works Progress Administration before and during construction of
18375-480: The roadway, about 50 "safety bays" were constructed in 1949 and 1950.) The engineers used a design speed of 45 miles per hour (72 kilometres per hour), superelevating curves where necessary to accomplish this. (The road is now posted at 55 mph (89 km/h).) Despite the freeway design, many parkway characteristics were incorporated, such as plantings of mostly native flora alongside the road. Prior to parkway construction, nine roads and two rail lines crossed
18522-432: The side of a divided highway that has a lot of private access on one side and sometimes has long driveways on the other side since an easement for widening comes into place, especially in rural areas. When a third carriageway is added, sometimes it can shift a directional carriageway by 20–60 metres (50–200 ft) (or maybe more depending on land availability) as a way to retain private access on one side that favors over
18669-406: The slow traffic speeds around the line that leads to more risk-taking behavior, and the shared right of way with freight traffic in the fastest running section from Washington station to Willow station, where trains operate at a maximum of 55 mph (89 km/h) between stations. Due to this, Metro started in the early 2000s to install four-quadrant gates at crossings where the A Line shares
18816-404: The south end to the Four Level Interchange in downtown Los Angeles and a connection with the rest of the freeway system. The road remains largely as it was on opening day, though the plants in its median have given way to a steel guard rail , and most recently to concrete barriers , and it now carries the designation State Route 110 , not historic U.S. Route 66 . Between 1954 and 2010, it
18963-465: The stations (including the six future stations) of the A Line, from north to south: Much of the initial segment of the A Line from Downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach follows the route of the Pacific Electric 's Long Beach Line , which ended service in 1961. The old route gave the new light rail trains a private right of way between Washington and Willow Street stations allowing them to reach higher speeds between stops. The line initially opened as
19110-550: The structure was dismantled, and the wood sold for lumber , and the Pasadena Rapid Transit Company, a failed venture headed by Dobbins to construct a streetcar line , acquired the right-of-way. Due to the rise of the automobile, most subsequent plans for the Arroyo Seco included a roadway, though they differed as to the purpose: some, influenced by the City Beautiful movement , concentrated on
19257-409: The system was the Four Level Interchange just north of downtown Los Angeles , the first stack interchange in the world. Although it was completed in 1949, the structure was not fully used until September 22, 1953, when the short extension of the Arroyo Seco Parkway to the interchange opened. Though the common name used by the public had become "Arroyo Seco Freeway " over the years, it was officially
19404-424: The west bank of the Arroyo Seco, begins as the southbound lanes curve from their 1943 alignment over the Los Angeles River into the original alignment next to the northbound lanes. As the original freeway begins, it passes under an extension to the 1925 Avenue 26 Bridge , one of four bridges over the Arroyo Seco that predate the parkway's construction. A southbound exit and northbound entrance at Avenue 26 complement
19551-467: The wider inside (passing) lanes paved in black asphalt concrete and the outside lanes paved in white Portland cement concrete . The differently-colored lanes would encourage drivers to stay in their lanes. (By mid-1939, the state had decided to replace the shoulders with additional travel lanes for increased capacity; except on a short piece in South Pasadena, these were also paved with Portland cement. So that disabled vehicles could be safely removed from
19698-556: The world's longest light rail line since 2023. The A Line is the oldest and busiest light rail line in the Los Angeles Metro Rail system, carrying over 15 million passengers in 2023, with an average of 69,216 weekday riders in May 2024. Its initial segment from Downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach opened in 1990, utilizing much of the original right of way of the former Pacific Electric Long Beach Line . Since its opening,
19845-793: The yard via the cross tracks on the north and south sides of the junction. Division 24 is located south of the I-210 freeway in Monrovia between Monrovia and Duarte/City of Hope stations. Just like Division 11, trains access the yard via the westbound/southbound tracks from either direction of its wye junction. Crossovers from the eastbound track to the yard junction are located near the California Avenue and Mountain Avenue railroad crossings. The A Line operates trains with three light rail vehicles on weekdays and two on weekends. The line currently uses three different types of light rail vehicles:
19992-406: The year 2010, comparing overall fatality rates with motorway rates (regardless of traffic intensity): The German autobahn network illustrates the safety trade-offs of controlled access highways. The injury crash rate is very low on autobahns, while 22 people died per 1,000 injury crashes—although autobahns have a lower rate than the 29 deaths per 1,000 injury accidents on conventional rural roads,
20139-443: Was European route E4 from Gävle to Axmartavlan , Sweden. The high rate of crashes with severe personal injuries on that (and similar) roads did not cease until a median crash barrier was installed, transforming the fatal crashes into non-fatal crashes. Otherwise, freeways typically have at least two lanes in each direction; some busy ones can have as many as 16 or more lanes in total. In San Diego, California , Interstate 5 has
20286-570: Was assigned to the E Line, extending it to connect Santa Monica and East Los Angeles directly. At this time, the L Line ceased to exist as a separate line. Phase 2B of the Foothill Extension, running between APU/Citrus College station in Azusa and the Pomona–North Metrolink station in Pomona, is currently under construction, with a current estimated completion in 2025. This extension, like
20433-413: Was built to the west. From the split with Hill Street south to near the existing College Street overpass, the four-lane surface road became a six-lane freeway. The extension was designed almost entirely on freeway, rather than parkway, principles, as it had to be built quickly to handle existing traffic. The new road split from the old at the Figueroa Street interchange, just south of Avenue 26, and crossed
20580-587: Was designated the Pasadena Freeway. In 2010, as part of plans to revitalize its scenic value and improve safety, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) restored the roadway's original name. All of its original bridges remain, including four that predate the parkway itself, built across the Arroyo Seco before the 1930s. The road has a crash rate roughly twice the rate of other freeways, largely due to an outdated design lacking in acceleration and deceleration lanes. The Arroyo Seco Parkway
20727-518: Was extended east from Pasadena as part of Phase 2A (Phase 1 was the initial Los Angeles to Pasadena segment) of the Foothill Extension , running between Sierra Madre Villa and APU/Citrus College stations in Azusa. The extension was constructed by the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority and added six new stations to the Gold Line serving the cities of Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale, and Azusa. A groundbreaking ceremony for Phase 2A
20874-489: Was held on June 26, 2010; construction began the following summer and was completed in September 2015, with the extension entering service on March 5, 2016. Like other lines in the Los Angeles Metro system, the Gold Line's designation became a letter in 2020. This was the beginning of a process where all Metro Rail and Busway lines would be identified by a letter name rather than a system of colors. The Gold Line
21021-483: Was introduced in 1935 to add the route to the state highway system, and after some debate a new Route 205 was created as a swap for the Palmdale - Wrightwood Route 186 , as the legislature had just greatly expanded the system in 1933, and the California Highway Commission opposed a further increase. To connect the proposed parkway with downtown Los Angeles, that city improved and extended North Figueroa Street as
21168-567: Was moved from Figueroa Street (which became SR 159 ) to the Pasadena Freeway. Finally, the number was changed to SR 110 in 1981, when SR 11 between San Pedro and the Santa Monica Freeway ( I-10 ) became I-110 . Despite its flaws, the Arroyo Seco Parkway remains the most direct car route between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena; the only freeway alternate (which trucks must use) is the Glendale Freeway ( SR 2 ) to
21315-529: Was opened to traffic on December 10, 1938. A 3.7-mile (6.0 km) section opened on July 20, 1940, connecting Orange Grove Avenue in South Pasadena with Avenue 40 in Los Angeles. The remainder in Los Angeles, from Avenue 40 southwest to the Figueroa Street Viaduct at Avenue 22, was dedicated on December 30, 1940, with great fanfare, and opened to the public the following day in time for the Tournament of Roses Parade and Rose Bowl on New Year's Day . However,
21462-400: Was renamed to the L Line. The Regional Connector Transit Project constructed a 1.9-mile (3.1 km) light rail tunnel across Downtown Los Angeles that connected A and E lines to the L Line, with the purpose of reducing transfers and travel times through downtown. The project completed the late 1990s vision of the "Pasadena Blue Line," connecting the northern (Union Station–Azusa) segment of
21609-504: Was renovated in 2019, with the southern half of the line being closed for the first five months and the northern half closing for the following five months (10 months total). Metro provided a bus shuttle service to compensate for the lack of rail service. Metro officially reopened the line on November 2, 2019, rebranding it as the A Line. The renovation helped improve the line's speed and reliability by replacing and modernizing old tracks, signals, train control systems, and bridges. Much of
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