Passenger Trains > Road tunnel Pasadena to Palmdale proposed

The San Gabriel (CA) Valley Newspapers ran an article on Thursday, January 20th proposing a tunnel be built through the Sierra Madre Mountains to Palmdale to alleviate traffic jams on State Highway 14, the Antelope Valley Freeway.
Cost would be around 3 Billion dollars.
Wouldn't this be a boon for an Elecrified Road and Rail cutoff for access to the mainline at Palmdale.

I know this wont't happen but just a glimmer of hope.

Jim Baker

It would be nice if they constructed a "super highway" consisting of rail lines, truck lanes, auto lanes, and communication lines-like what's being proposed in Texas.

We need an Autobahn with no speed limit.

fjc Wrote:
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> We need an Autobahn with no speed limit.

We have that. I drove one night from Las Vegas to Glendale at about 95 mph, and people were passing me doing 110, 115.

Same tunnel was proposed in the 50's/60's, but it was to have huge fans (no vehicle traffic) and would "blow the smog out of the LA basin and into the desert" (SERIOUSLY!)

pismobum Wrote:
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> Same tunnel was proposed in the 50's/60's, but it
> was to have huge fans (no vehicle traffic) and
> would "blow the smog out of the LA basin and into
> the desert" (SERIOUSLY!)


Growing up in Palmdale (now Pompton) I remember this proposal, what a joke then, what a bigger joke now. Can't take 3bil and use it for something that makes sense, like more transit rail corridor projects. That would just be to logical.

I agree, besides, don't they know that this state gets earthquakes every now and then and some can get big enough to really screw things up (like Northridge 11 years ago.) Yeah, a big joke, I remember one guy on the bus one day saying the same thing, nope, won't happen, and I-15 to Vegas? I beleive it, that's why they have so many bad accidents on that freeway alone!

Hmmmm.... Let's see. $3 billion for a single freeway tunnel benefiting some folks in Southern California.

Amtrak just wants another $600 million for its entire national system.

I got a really good idea: give that $3b to Amtrak over the next 2 years on top of their $1.2b appropriation.

Then again, something that would benefit the whole country would just be silly.

While you are at it, give us Bay Area folks several billion to build our Bay Bridge.

Clearly a sign of a society out of touch with reality. We have serious problems relating to air pollution, energy consumption and transportation. These problems will ultimately destroy our economy and environment. This tunnel proposal is simply more of the same old crap put out by those who benefit in the short term while society pays in the long term.

We here in La Canada will (and rightfully should) fight it to the death. We're gonna play the NIMBY card. We have enough of those High Desertians coming down Angeles Crest Highway in the morning. Bad idea.

metrolinkvalleysub Wrote:
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> We here in La Canada will (and rightfully should)
> fight it to the death. We're gonna play the NIMBY
> card. We have enough of those High Desertians
> coming down Angeles Crest Highway in the morning.
> Bad idea.

Yeah and they think there's too many of you flatlanders coming up there and getting stuck in the snow.

P.S. I'm in Fullerton, so I don't care either way.

metrolinkvalleysub Wrote:
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> We here in La Canada will (and rightfully should)
> fight it to the death. We're gonna play the NIMBY
> card. We have enough of those High Desertians
> coming down Angeles Crest Highway in the morning.
> Bad idea.


Trouble is, most of those "High Desertians" used to live in San Fernan--doh!
The 2 and 14 used to be a nice drive, about 35 years ago. But I remember Pompton before the 14 was built, where the desert was wild, not the inhabitants

Forget the construction costs, can you imagine what it would cost to secure something like that from terrorism. Perhaps a better solution would be a high speed cable tram like Palm Springs, with park and rides at each end. Up and over the San Gabriels, not through them. now that would be cool.

pismobum Wrote:
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> Same tunnel was proposed in the 50's/60's, but it
> was to have huge fans (no vehicle traffic) and
> would "blow the smog out of the LA basin and into
> the desert" (SERIOUSLY!)

That was actually on an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies.

Tax the Indians.

My 2 cents (before they start on this Pasadena-Palmdale project

1) Complete the I-710 from Alhambra to the SR-110 in Pasadena by tunneling under South Pasadena using one of those big machines they dug the Channel Tunnel with.

2) Then if there is any money in the budget extend the I-605 from the I-210 to Victorville to connect up with the "Autobaun Blood alley" aka I-15 or SR-14 Palmdale using tunnels in places except near the San Andreas fault.

parts545 Wrote:
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> My 2 cents (before they start on this
> Pasadena-Palmdale project
>
> 1) Complete the I-710 from Alhambra to the SR-110
> in Pasadena by tunneling under South Pasadena
> using one of those big machines they dug the
> Channel Tunnel with.
>
> 2) Then if there is any money in the budget extend
> the I-605 from the I-210 to Victorville to connect
> up with the "Autobaun Blood alley" aka I-15 or
> SR-14 Palmdale using tunnels in places except near
> the San Andreas fault.


Uh there's one distinct problem, no matter which way you go you'll always deal with the San Andreas when you head from the LA BAsin to the desert northbound!

ProAmtrak Wrote:
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> Uh there's one distinct problem, no matter which
> way you go you'll always deal with the San Andreas
> when you head from the LA BAsin to the desert
> northbound!

Oops I hit post too soon
As long as the road is above ground when it crosses the fault which it should be once you get past the mountains

Exactly!