Category Archives: Projects

Gold Line Foothill Extension project awards third and final contract for construction of light rail line from Pasadena to Azusa

Posted by
image003

An abutment wall for the bridge at Citrus Avenue in Azusa. Photo: Foothill Extension Construction Authority.

The Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority issued the following news release on Friday. In the meantime, numerous bridges are under construction throughout the alignment and particularly in Azusa and Arcadia. Ground has been broken on the first at-grade crossings (at Highland Avenue in Duarte and Dalton Avenue in Azusa) and work continues on the Duarte Station. Other work, including grading and utility relocation, continues throughout the 11.5-mile alignment between eastern Pasadena and Azusa.

Construction Authority Board Awards $48.7 Million Contract to Webcor Builders

This Design-Build Contract will Complete the Foothill Extension from Pasadena to Azusa Project

MONROVIA, Calif. – At their meeting last night [Thursday], the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority (Construction Authority) Board of Directors awarded the third and final design-build contract for the Foothill Extension light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa. The $48.7-million contract is for final design and construction of parking facilities for the future Gold Line stations, as well as enhancements at and around the stations to improve intermodal connectivity for train riders arriving by bus, foot or on bicycles.

“This was an important contract for the Authority,” said Habib F. Balian, CEO of the Construction Authority. “As the last design-build contract for the overall project, we now know that we are able to deliver the 11.5-mile light rail extension on time and on budget.”

 

Continue reading →

405 work update

Posted by

Photo by Dave Sotero/Metro.

The I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements contractor is on schedule with Northbound I-405 paving work between Montana Avenue and Getty Center Offramps. Earlier this morning, the contractor completed grinding the pavement in this 2.5-mile area, and is now paving lanes. Striping work and K-rail shifts will follow as work continues today.

With extended delays now occurring on the 405 as a result of lane reductions in the area, motorists are reminded to avoid this part of the 405 and seek alternate freeway routes. Monitor traffic conditions at Caltrans Quickmap web site.

Regional Connector crews uncover streetcar rails on Spring Street

Posted by
Photo: Metro.

Photo: Metro.

Check it out: While doing utility relocation work for the Regional Connector on Thursday in downtown L.A., crews found some old (presumably) streetcar rails between 1st and 2nd streets. There are still a lot of railroad tracks embedded in streets on the eastern and more industrial side of downtown, but I can’t recall seeing rails in downtown proper.

New York City’s transportation boss offers a few lessons on making the big changes actually happen

Posted by
Janette Sadik-Khan at last night's event. Photo by Juan Matute/UCLA.

Janette Sadik-Khan at last night’s event talking about closing parts of Times Square to traffic in favor of pedestrian plazas. Photo by Juan Matute/UCLA.

I had the good fortune of attending a forum last night with Janette Sadik-Khan, the innovative Transportation Commissioner for New York City. She was the featured speaker at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs Complete Streets Initiative, an effort to make local streets more user-friendly for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and motorists.

New York has taken a number of bold steps since Sadik-Khan began working for Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007: building new public plazas in places that were once streets (including parts of Times Square), creating new bus rapid transit lines with the New York MTA, adding 300 miles of bike lanes and implementing traffic calming measures to reduce fatalities and injuries caused by motor vehicles in New York City’s five boroughs. The New York MTA is also building a new subway line and extending another.

In other words, New York City made a lot of significant changes quickly, not letting distractors or controversy get in the way even when things didn’t break their way (such as a plan to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan). I think most of what she discussed is highly relevant here, given that some big changes are underway in L.A. County courtesy of Metro’s Measure R program along with many other local initiatives and projects that are either being discussed, studied or implemented across the county.

I few things I heard that I really liked:

•”Just remember the headlines don’t always translate into the opinions of actual people,” said Sadik-Khan. Couldn’t agree more. It’s difficult in some media reports to gauge the degree of opposition or support for a particular projects and many media outlets either don’t offer the context or disclosed they rely on the same people for years for quotes.

•”Safety and sustainability go hand in hand,” she said. “You won’t get more people walking or biking if they don’t feel safe.” Several cities in L.A. County are quickly putting in new bikes but I haven’t seen a lot of data about which are being used and which are not — and why not. For example, there are new bike lanes directly next to three lanes of freeway-like traffic on Huntington Boulevard in El Sereno. It’s great to have the lanes, but I have seen very few people actually using them and non-productive lanes could harm the overall program. 

Continue reading →

Agenda for Thursday’s meeting of the Metro Board of Directors

Posted by

The Metro Board of Directors holds their regular monthly meeting on Thursday at 9 a.m. at Metro headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. The meeting is open to the public. The agenda is above; here’s a link to see it directly on Metro.net.

As usual, I’ll be at the meeting and will post any news that burps out of it throughout the day tomorrow!

ExpressLanes on the 10 freeway: so far, so good

Posted by
The 10 freeway on Monday morning; the westbound lanes are on the left. Photo by Metro.

The 10 freeway on Monday morning; the westbound lanes are on the left. Photo by Metro.

The ExpressLanes on the 10 freeway between Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles and the 605 freeway opened early Saturday morning and thus far all has been going well. A few interesting stats:

•Speeds in the ExpressLanes through this morning’s commute remained above 45 miles per hour 100 percent of the time.

•The average toll to use the entire 14 miles of the ExpressLanes during peak periods has been $4.19. The maximum thus far was $5.15 for the westbound 605.

•Sixty-seven percent of the private vehicles that used the ExpressLanes during the Monday morning peak period were carpools with three or more occupants or two-person carpools. However, two-person carpools pay a toll during the peak period. So the ratio of toll-free to toll-payers was 52 percent HOV 3+ carpoolers to 48 percent single occupant vehicles and carpools with two people.

•The traffic volume in the ExpressLanes on the 10 on Monday morning was 99 percent of what it was on Monday, Feb. 4, the previous non-holiday Monday.

Remember, every vehicle that uses the ExpressLanes on the 10 or 110 freeway needs a FasTrak transponder — with the exception of buses and motorcycles with standard California license plates. You can order a transponder online by clicking here.

If you obtained a transponder through AAA, Costco or Albertson’s, click here to complete the registration process.

Notice: geotechnical tests for SR-710 Study begins Monday, Feb. 25

Posted by
Click above to see larger.

Click above to see larger.

Here’s the link to the project home page and here’s the link to the recently-released Alternatives Analysis for the project. Five alternatives are under study: the usual no-build option, traffic signal and intersection improvements, bus rapid transit (East L.A. to Pasadena), light rail (East L.A. to Pasadena) and a tunnel to link the 710 from its terminus at Valley Boulevard to the 210/134 junction in Pasadena.