Despite how fun they are, Dodger’s games usually coincide with headaches. ⚾
On game days, hundreds of cars jam pack the freeways and surrounding streets near the Dodger Stadium. Currently, the only mass-transit option is an express bus operated by Metro but even then, fans often catch themselves missing the first pitch. But the city seems to finally have a solution! Former Dodger owner, Frank McCourt, has proposed the idea of a gondola lift that would carry passengers from the Union Station to Dodger Stadium by air in five minutes!
The idea sounds too good to be true but Mayor Eric Garcetti believes the complete opposite. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times Garcetti expresses, “I am absolutely confident that this will happen. It’s not actually crazy. It may seem like that because, in Los Angeles, we don’t have this. But this exists in over a dozen cities around the world.”
Usually takes me 15 min, Took me an hr to get home cause of the #DodgerTraffic
— Shay (@Iamshaylove) May 14, 2014
@ArashMarkazi good luck leaving the Parking Lot in under 90 minutes. #DodgerTraffic #worthThewait
— JP ✭ (@NYC_Cowsheep) October 8, 2013
Been off the freeway for 45 minutes, still not even to the parking lot yet. #DodgerTraffic
— Jason (@GarciaJason) March 31, 2011
Regulated ski resorts, tourist attractions, and South American cities are a few examples of gondolas being used as a successful form of transportation. New York City has a system that’s been used for decades where a cable car carries commuters between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island.
Now Angelenos, we wait. Though this gondola project proposes many challenges – like building wires that will be high enough to avoid air rights and avoiding building a route that would go over houses and businesses – the Mayor advises they aren’t deal-breakers. Project supporters hope public outreach can start by the end of the year with hopes of finalizing routes and station before 2020.