Light rail lines traditionally generate new development within a quarter-mile to a half-mile around stations along the route, including mixed-use developments of three-to-five stories such as in Pasadena. This creates lifestyles that require far less automobile traffic.
A new 15-minute video posted by the MMetro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority features examples of this along the route from Los Angeles to Pasadena, and plans being put in place for commercial retail and housing in anticipation of the 2015 opening of the Extension in Monrovia, Azusa, and other cities, including the re-centering of Downtown districts to trains stations: