University of California Transportation Center

When parts of their freeway network were damaged by the recent earthquake, many Los Angelenos were forced to "take to the streets" - to drive on the numerous arterials and transit corridors that interlace the city. They discovered a forgotten commercial landscape of small retail establishments mixed with office and residential buildings, automobile dealerships, junkyards, parking lots, and vacant space. These corridors are not unique. They are typical urban landscapes that can be found in virtually all American cities. Prior to the construction of freeways they were the principal traffic and transit arteries of the city, and they still carry the largest share of transit traffic. Urban arterial corridors are the "in-between" spaces of the city. They connect centers with subcenters, and the latter with one another. In the multicentered urban expanse that is typical of the post-industrial American city. But these transit corridors have become unfriendly in transit riders.