As many of you know, the location of the eventual Century City station is one of the key remaining questions for the Westside Subway Extension. When the Metro Board adopted a route last fall – the “Locally Preferred Alternative” — they authorized Metro staff to continue studying two options.
One would place that station at Santa Monica and Avenue of the Stars. The other would be Constellation and Avenue of the Stars.
Now Metro staff are looking at a third option: a station location farther east on Santa Monica Boulevard that would potentially place the station entrance at the intersection with Century Park East.
Some quick background: Many in the city of Beverly Hills, especially the Beverly Hills Unified School District, to date have only supported the Santa Monica Boulevard/Avenue of the Stars option. Tunnels to reach this location would travel under Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards.
The Constellation Station option has been a part of planning for the Westside Subway Extension since 2007 and arose from public comments asking Metro to look at placing the station more in the heart of Century City, closer to the many buildings and jobs at that destination. The tunnels to reach this station would need to go under residential streets and under Beverly Hills High School property – which many residents and the School District say they oppose. (With either option, tunnels would still travel below many Westwood area homes in neighborhoods between the Century City and Westwood/UCLA stations).
The problem is that the Santa Monica/Avenue of the Stars station, according to Metro staff, may be directly above the Santa Monica Fault. If that is determined to be the case, it would create special significant seismic risks and challenges for subway engineers and builders.
The Santa Monica Fault is believed to travel under the Los Angeles Country Club golf course, reaching Santa Monica Boulevard somewhere between Avenue of the Stars and Century Park East. It then continues traveling west under Santa Monica Boulevard for a distance. According to Westside Subway Extension Project Director David Mieger, this new third option may allow for a Santa Monica Boulevard station location that is outside of the fault zone. “We want to ensure that we have fully evaluated all viable options,” he said.
As a part of the ongoing final environmental review, Metro is doing significant work in the area from Beverly Hills to Westwood to better understand the Santa Monica Fault, soil conditions, and how those factors relate to the station and tunnel locations. All of this information will be compiled for the Final EIS/EIR for the subway which should be released in the summer. The Metro Board of Directors will subsequently make the final decisions on the location of the Century City station and other aspects of the project.
both the second and third options are terrible options. constellation is the only option that makes real sense. i realize you are exploring these things in an effort to gather facts that shut BH up, but lets be real. BH can take a long walk off a short pier. a group of people does not get to determine how our subway system is laid out. build it right and take a stand as the authority that you are. dont listen to this garbage from a bunch of whiny folks.
Yeah the constellation station really is the best spot, hands down. These anti-subway folks need to understand that deep-bore tunneling eliminates the chance of it being felt above ground and is much different and safer than older subways. LA is on the brink of perhaps the most important rapid transit development in its history so lets have this station correctly placed!!
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This new alignment consideration between Avenue of the Stars and Century Park East offers wonderful advantages for both Century City and Beverly Hills.
1. Excellent staging area for station construction
2. Area for an affordable Park n Ride (so Westside residents can utilize the subway…increased ridership)
3. 1 block from Century City Mall and Century Plaza, CAA, AIG etc.
4. 1 block from Twin Towers and office building towers near SM Blvd.
5. can service the workers at Hilton
6. Saves Metro over 60 Million thus allowing for more funding to extend the subway to the VA Hospital for our Vets.
This is a win win for all concerned.
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As open-minded as I strive to be, I’ve no patience for irrational, chest-thumping opposition that doesn’t have a slice of merit to it. That’s what I see with Beverly Hills. I’m glad that Metro is doing its due diligence, but if the Constellation station is the safest and most cost-effective, then we must go with that.
This is a time where science has to win the day, not childish politics.
Equip yourselves with the facts and spread the word. Subways tunnel under schools, even elementary schools, where the smallest, most tunnel-vulnerable of our precious little ones get educated. New York city has dozens of public and private K-12 schools that are immediately adjacent to subway tunnels running under street right-of-ways. More to the point, some tunnels pass directly beneath some of these institutions. Public School 173/Harbor Heights Middle School lies directly above the A line. Public School 256/Benjamin Banneker sits atop the G line. Immaculate Heart of Mary school is on top of the F/G line. Lastly, the massive public housing/Public School 46 joint campus on Frederick Douglas lies directly above the C line and has its own station!
This newest Century City station alternative serves only a political interest and is not in the interest of county-wide transit needs. It’s hard not to feel the people of Beverly Hills are once again holding the subway hostage, twenty years after the first time. It’s bizarre to me how they’re fighting good planning based on false risks, yet for decades they’ve let oil drilling and pumping on their high school campus pose measurable risk to the children they claim to be considering.
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I’m probably way off base, and far too late, to say this — but I’ve never liked the plan for the subway to detour from Wilshire Blvd., and travel underneath Westwood homes between Century City and Westwood/UCLA.
I’ve wanted the subway to stay along Wilshire Blvd. And I’ve imagined a connector between the Wilshire/Beverly station and an Expo Line Phase II station at Pico & Sepulveda, via Santa Monica Blvd., Avenue of the Stars, and Pico Blvd.
I’d support a Century East station with a little Century City shuttle that ferries people from there to all the major work centers, like the Dash downtown, only for a much smaller area.