The final route and station locations of the second and third phase of the Westside Subway Extension were approved by the Metro Board of Directors on Thursday by a vote of seven to two. Board Members Mike Antonovich and John Fasana voted against the route.
The approval includes, most notably, a station location in Century City at the intersection of Constellation Boulevard and the Avenue of Stars to avoid building a station and tunnel in active earthquake fault zones under Santa Monica Boulevard. Metro’s experts testified that building a station or tunnels under Santa Monica Boulevard would be unsafe.
The Constellation station will require tunneling under part of the Beverly Hills High School campus. That is opposed by the city of Beverly Hills and the Beverly Hills Unified School District.
In testimony to the Metro Board, Beverly Hills city and school officials on Thursday both asked the Board to delay making a decision on tunneling under the school and school officials again threatened state and federal litigation.
Officials from Beverly Hills also alleged that the earthquake faults are not active. “You will not succeed and we will stop you at every turn,” said Beverly Hills Unified School District Board Member Lisa Korbatov.
Metro staff and other experts remain unswayed by Beverly Hills’ arguments. “The Santa Monica Fault is an active fault and there’s no extra evidence that is going to come in that is going to change that,” said Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who reviewed the project. She was not paid by Metro.
In response to a hearing last week requested by the city of Beverly Hills, the Metro Board in a separate action voted to adopt the findings regarding the reasonableness of the Constellation station and the related subway tunnels beneath Beverly Hills High School.
The findings, posted here, reaffirmed Metro’s previous position that tunneling can be done safely under the high school, among other things. The vote was 8 to 2, with the no votes from Directors Antonovich and Fasana. A motion by Antonovich for an additional study on the Santa Monica Fault failed on an 8 to 2 vote, with only Antonovich and Fasana voting for it.
In the past two years, Beverly Hills officials have alleged: that the subway tunnels would trigger underground gas explosions beneath the school; Metro moved the station to Constellation to benefit a politically-connected developer in Century City, and; subway tunnels would interfere with school operations and would hinder the possible future development of an underground parking garage at the school.
Metro staff, experts and consultants strongly disagree, saying: there are lower gas levels under the school than in other parts of Los Angeles, including downtown L.A., where there are existing subway tunnels; that ridership would be higher at the Constellation station than a station along Santa Monica Boulevard, and; that noise and vibrations under the school would be within legal limits, have no adverse impacts and that the tunnels, which would be at least 50 feet under the school, would still allow for a three- to four-story underground garage or other structure.
Beverly Hills also submitted three alternative routes to a Constellation station last week that bypassed tunneling under the high school.
Metro staff said they reviewed the three routes and determined they would require much deeper tunnels to avoid buildings and would greatly increase the cost of the project and impact residential properties west of Century City. Staff also said that the routes proposed by Beverly Hills has tighter turns that would require slower train speeds.
Supervisor and Board Vice Chair Antonovich likened Metro’s seismic experts Dr. James Dolan and Lucy Jones to “trained seals,” saying their background in seismology precluded them from drawing conclusions on the geology of the area and the engineering of the project.
Metro CEO Art Leahy disagreed and stood by the agency’s conclusions. Dr. Jones testified that she was not being paid by Metro and reviewed the project under her role as a seismologist with the federal U.S. Geological Survey. Dr. Dolan, a professor of earth sciences at USC, testified that even after he began his role as a consultant with Metro, Beverly Hills city and school district officials contacted him about possibly working for them.
The Westwood/UCLA station will be located at the intersection of Wilshire and Westwood boulevards. The Westwood/VA station will be on the south side of Wilshire Boulevard, with an entrance just east of Bonsall Avenue, allowing for a very short walk from the station to the entrance of the VA Hospital.
The Metro Board in April had voted to certify the Final Environmental Impact/Statement Report for the project, which will extend the current Purple Line subway from Western Avenue for nine miles to Westwood. The first segment between Western and La Cienega Boulevard is scheduled to be completed in 2020.
The Board in April delayed selecting a route for the second and third phases of the project to accommodate a request for a hearing about the Century City station location by the city of Beverly Hills.
why did my comment not get posted? i didnt use profanity or obscenities, nor did i attack any person. i also did not say anything false, nor impersonate, abuse, harass or intimidate anyone. i also did not post anything pornographic, misleading, off topic or an advertisement. please review your moderation policies.
I disagree with your description of your comment.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
As an outsider from NYC following the expanding subway/rail system of Los Angeles, I say congratulations! The choice for the Century City Station is the right choice and if the residents of Beverly Hills are so worried about tunnel construction underneath the high school, one only has to visit Washington, DC. The Metro in our nation’s capitol was built underground well below many of the government buildings and at least one school. The Washington rail system is considered to be among the best in the world and the second busiest system in the U.S.A.
This isn’t a forum. It is a “company” comments post. We really need to start a forum where people can express themselves with less censorship. We can still post on this site, but why would we want to waste our typing time and tire our typing fingers when MTA is just not in the position that it can allow free speech because MTA can’t afford to offend anyone no matter how intelligent, cogent, sound, or fair a case is presented here. I don’t know how to start a forum, but someone in this group should do so and we’ll meet there after reading news here. Let all know where to go.
@Mark DeFazio:
A point of clarification: The tracks that are in the middle of the 210 are on the old AT&SF (Santa Fe) railroad right of way, which existed before the freeway. The Gold line runs along that old ROW.
Joshua S., your comments were spot-on. Thank you for giving a rebuttal that was clear and civil. Comments like these are exactly what we need to enlighten the community. I nominate you as our spokesperson!
Furthermore, all the other “angry moms” don’t seem to be as concerned about the long-term effects of pollution from vehicles on the health of their children. Sure, automotive technology is constantly evolving, but with the population in Los Angeles increasing, the best long-term solution is to get more people using public transportation, especially in areas with such dense traffic as Beverly Hills.
I also am really offended by Angry Mom’s comment “anywhere else in the world.” I just feel like we should try to act a little more like neighbors instead of this “stay the hell out of my community” mentality. It just seems clear to me that these “spontaneous explosions” are just a cover for the deeper issue of why this is being fought so hard. Sounds to me like a lot of people just don’t want us transit riffraff hanging out in Beverly Hills.
deleting posts that are “too long” is a vague answer that is at the discretion of big brother.
this is y we hate govt. they expect all of our concerns to fit in one sentence! u ppl just dont care about the small folk, u just want us to give u more taxes!
I like this route. The only thing I would change on it is extending it to be within 1/3 of a mile from the Santa Monica Pier. This way there is direct access from Union Station to the Santa Monica Pier. Also, which of the Westside Subway Extension stations do they plan on being free park and ride stations (stations where parking is free)?
Ultimately the lawyers are going to decide, and Metro will have to study the Beverly Hills proposed routes in detail anyway. I agree with Fasana that if there is a way to accommodate Beverly Hills residents, while maintaining the Constellation station which appears to have the higher ridership, why not? Let’s see how much additional time the deviated route will take, and compare that to the amount spent in lawyers and environmental studies trying to reprove the route. While no one wants to abandon all that work done on the original route, sometimes cutting your losses might work out. After all, it’s not like Beverly Hills politicians don’t have connections to federal decisionmakers who control the purse strings.
I don’t think acquiescing to BH’s demands is prudent for Metro (or the region). You shouldn’t reroute an entire line because a group of people simply don’t like it. Bending to a group that is being resistant–without real reasons, at least according to Metro–sets a bad precedent.