Union Station

Our objective was to collect ideas and build local excitement as part of the Union Station and 1st Central Station Linkages Study, by hosting a Community Visioning Festival.

Los Angeles’ Union Station is a regional transportation hub for several bus, rail, and shuttle services, and the future Regional Connector station at 1st/Central.

The Union Station and 1st/Central Station Linkages Study will set out a plan to improve historical and cultural connections in downtown Los Angeles by enhancing the pedestrian and cycling networks through and between nearby communities.

8 80 Cities hosted a Community Visioning Festival to collect ideas and build local excitement for the project.

The festival was held during one of El Pueblo’s most popular events: Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Residents had the opportunity to speak to facilitators to learn more about the project, map their preferred routes on oversized maps, and design their perfect street, alongside live music, dancing, parades, and altar displays. We provided translation and surveys were in both English and Spanish.

We collected a total of 625 surveys, although an even greater number of people participated in the visioning festival activities.

Some of the ideas that participants expressed strong support for include: the proposed pedestrian toolkit ideas, enforcing laws that protect pedestrians, protected bike lanes with parked cars or other barriers as a buffer, bike stations, bikeshare systems, better wayfinding, public art, etc.