Gondola moves closer to floating fans to Dodger Stadium

The Los Angeles Dodgers just blew a shot at the World Series, but a $120 million plan to float a gondola system from Union Station to Dodger Stadium could be headed out of the park.

Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies has swung for the fences with a new environmental impact report on its gondola system, just published by Metro, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

LA ART, as the developer is known, was founded by former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, who is funding the gondola skyway.

Management and construction of the gondola project was given in August to Climate Resolve, an environmental nonprofit based Downtown, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal. Climate Resolve would handle the project through a new subsidiary called Zero Emissions Transit.

The gondola would run more than a mile between Union Station and the ballpark, over Chinatown. The route would send the aerial cars north on Alameda Street toward Los Angeles State Historic Park, then west at Bishops Road toward Dodger Stadium.

According to the environmental study, maximum capacity on the gondola system would be 5,000 passengers per hour, with an estimated end-to-end trip of seven minutes.

Admission to the system would be free with a ticket to a Dodger game, with rides otherwise costing a Metro fare.

The gondola terminal at Union Station would resemble a nearly 175-foot long bonnet, hovering nearly 80 feet over the train station. Passengers would access the gondola from a platform more than 30 feet above grade, through elevators, escalators and stairs from a new Union Station Forecourt.

LA ART has proposed a middle stop near L.A. State Historic Park and Chinatown Station, even taller than the gondola terminal at Union Station, at 98 feet. Passengers would board from a platform 50 feet above the street.

A new mobility hub would center on Chinatown/State Park Station, with public restrooms and a concessions stand.

The final stop at Dodger Stadium planned near the southeast parking lot would be about the same size as the Union Station terminal, at 74 feet tall, with passengers getting on and off at grade. The stadium station would include restrooms, break rooms and storage for gondola cars.

The gondola cars would be supported by three, nearly 200-foot tall towers and a junction building at 1201 North Broadway, which would require the demolition of a commercial building housing the architecture firm Johnson Fain.

Construction of the gondola could break ground in 2024 and carry passengers by 2026.

Support for the project includes 340 businesses in Chinatown, El Pueblo and Lincoln Heights, according to Zero Emissions Transit.

Opposition comes from Chinatown residents concerned about gentrification, who have launched a website seeking to block its construction.California Endowment, headquartered near the route, filed a writ of mandate this year in an effort to block the gondola project.

— Dana Bartholomew

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