Expo Line Construction Authority responds to lawsuit

As expected and as was widely reported yesterday, the group Neighbors for Smart Rail has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the second phase of the Expo Line, which will run from Culver City to Santa Monica. The project, which was part of the Measure R package approved by voters, is scheduled to open in 2015.

Streetsblog Los Angeles has posted a copy of the lawsuit. The gist of it is that the group alleges that the final environmental impact study of the 6.6-mile line — which was adopted by the Expo Line Construction Authority Board of Directors last month — was flawed and that the train’s impacts were not adequately studied. The group has been particularly opposed to the train crossing three streets at gravel level — Overland, Westwood and Sepulveda.

Here is the response from the Expo Line Construction Authority:

Expo Authority Statement Regarding Litigation

The February 4, 2010 approval of the Phase 2 extension of the Expo Light Rail Line from Culver
City to Santa Monica culminated decades of planning, including extensive  environmental studies, to
provide modern transit service connecting the Westside with Downtown L.A.

Given the long and careful planning history, and the urgent need for traffic relief, we are extremely disappointed that a small faction of the community seeks to delay the extension of a project that has the overwhelming support of the communities on the Westside.

The Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority (Expo Authority) is confident that the Phase 2
project complies fully with the California Environmental Quality Act and the Authority intends to defend the project vigorously. The Authority conducted many large-scale community meetings and well over one hundred additional key stakeholder briefings to discuss the alternatives that were studied and to obtain feedback from the public. The selected project alternative reflects the consensus of the communities served by the project and incorporates the highest standards for design, public safety and environmental protection.
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Blue Line returns service to downtown L.A. after weekend closure

The Metro Blue Line resumes normal operations at the start of service on Monday morning. Blue Line trains were not running in downtown Los Angeles this weekend due to construction that will eventually tie the future Expo Line into existing Blue line tracks.

Drivers take note. The eastbound 18th Street will be closed at Flower Monday morning until traffic signal loops are restored. (18th Street is a one-way street that runs parallel to the I-10 freeway.) In fact, the entire intersection at 18th St. and Flower St. will be flashing red and Expo crews will be flagging for an extra layer of safety. The on-ramp at Flower St. to the eastbound I-10 will remain open, however.

The San Pedro, Grand, Pico and 7th/Metro Center stations were closed over the weekend during the construction. Buses were provided to shuttle Metro passengers from 7th/Metro Center to Washington Station. Rail service from Washington Station to Long Beach Transit Mall was not affected.

The same plan will continue for a second weekend beginning at 9 p.m. on Friday night, March 12, and continue until the early hours of Monday, March 15.

Again, Metro will implement a bus bridge to serve the stations from 7th/Metro Center to and from Washington Station. Metro personnel will help direct patrons from the stations to the waiting bus shuttle.

The bus service will run every 15 to 20 minutes on Friday nights. On Saturday and Sunday, buses will run every 5 to 10 minutes and every 15 to 20 minutes after 8 p.m.

Authority board gives go ahead to Expo Line phase 2 environmental report

The Board of Directors of the Expo Line Construction Authority voted on Thursday evening to approve the final environmental impact report for the light rail line from Culver City to Santa Monica.

The vote allows design and construction work of the line to go forward. The seven-mile, $1.5-billion line is scheduled to open in 2015. The first phase of the Expo Line, from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City, is currently under construction.

The vote was six yeas with one abstention from Dan Rosenfeld, the senior deputy for Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas who was voting as an alternate for Ridley-Thomas. Rosenfeld said the main issue was Metro’s grade-crossing policy and that Ridley-Thomas’ office does not believe it takes into account pedestrian traffic and future economic development created by the line

Despite the approval of the report, some residents who live near the Expo Line — mostly in the West Los Angeles area in neighborhoods near the Westside Pavilion — said they are planning to file a lawsuit alleging that the environmental report is flawed. In particular, they allege that the report failed to take into consideration the full traffic and safety impacts of building the line at street level across Overland Avenue and Westwood and Sepulveda boulevards.
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Delays in service expected on Blue Line next three weekends

Blue Line passengers be warned: due to Expo Line light rail construction, there are likely going to be delays in Blue Line service of up to 30 minutes over each of the next three weekends. In other words, it’s going to take up to 30 minutes longer for trains to travel between Metro Center in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The Expo Line and Blue Line will join together at the intersection of Washington and Flower and then share the same tracks until the terminus of both lines at Metro Center (at 7th and Figueroa/Flower). Work started last year to begin the process of merging the tracks at Washington and Flower, but it’s a complicated process and there’s more to be done.

More details on the delays are after the jump.
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Yaroslavsky says he will vote to approve Expo Line environmental report

At 2 p.m. on Thursday at the County Hall of Administration in downtown Los Angeles, the second phase of the Expo Line light rail line faces a pivotal moment: the seven-member Board of Directors of the Expo Line Construction Authority are scheduled to vote to certify the final environmental impact report (FEIR) for the second phase of the project, which runs from Culver City to Santa Monica. The first phase, from downtown L.A. to Culver City, is under construction.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a member of the Expo Board and the Metro Board of Directors, wrote on his blog that he plans to vote to certify the phase tww while acknowledging some aspects of it have been controversial. Excerpt:

The Expo Line has had its share of critics, with concerns raised about matters ranging from grade crossings, impact on neighborhoods and placement of the project’s maintenance yard to delays and noise during Phase 1 construction.

But I firmly believe that the FEIR has addressed these issues in great detail and that we can deliver a project that will reflect what our region wants and needs. Extensive analysis has been done to ensure that the Expo Line is built in a manner that is as respectful as possible of the communities through which it will run. New elevated grade separations have been recommended where appropriate. Those intersections include: Venice Boulevard, Bundy, Centinela, Pico-Gateway, Cloverfield/Olympic and Sawtelle. The remainder of the grade crossings will be at street level.

In particular, the prospect of street level crossings at Overland Avenue and Westwood and Sepulveda boulevards has been contentious among some residents who live in the vicinity of the rail right-of-way and who say the train would have serious impacts on traffic, as well as create safety issues, among other problems. The FEIR concludes that those crossings can be built in a way to prevent traffic from growing worse while waiting for trains to pass. Sepulveda, for example, would be widened at the intersection of Pico Boulevard and the FEIR also incudes the option of building a bridge for the train over Sepulveda if extra funding can be found.

The total cost of the project, which is scheduled to open in 2015, is $1.5 billion and the cost of putting the tracks under Overland and Westwood would be an additional $224 million, according to the Expo Line Construction Authority. Bridging over the two streets — which would likely create aesthetic concerns for neighbors — would cost $66 million. No source of money has yet been found for those upgrades; the line is currently going to be paid for with $925 million from the Measure R sales tax increase voters approved in 2008 and about $600 million in state and local funds.

The vote on the FEIR is significant because it allows the planning and construction of Phase 2 to go forward. Four of seven votes are needed for passage. Other key votes will likely come from Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Los Angeles Council members Paul Koretz. The crossings at Overland, Westwood and Sepulveda are in Koretz’ district and Ridley-Thomas has expressed concerns about Metro’s grade crossing policy and how it may impact the future Crenshaw Line in his district.

It remains to be seen what, if any, legal recourse is taken by residents unhappy with the line if it does go forward. Here’s a related post by Damien Newton at Streetsblog Los Angeles about some other issues likely to be discussed. Mr. Newton predicates the FEIR will be certified. I’ve seen too many City Council meetings to predict anything other than it will likely be a long meeting tomorrow.

I’ve posted an excerpt from the FEIR on the street crossings at Overland, Westwood and Sepulveda boulevards after the jump.
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A decade of Metro milestones

The first decade of the 2000’s has been ripe with accomplishments for Metro and transportation improvements in Los Angeles County. What follows is a list of 30 notable achievements and moments in the past decade.

Some may be more important to you than others, but most hopefully show a measure of progress. And speaking of progress, whoever compiles this list in the last week of December 2019 should hopefully have a hard time just selecting 30 big moments.

If all goes as planned in the next decade — and because of steps taken this past decade — Wilshire Boulevard should gain a bus lane, single drivers will pay tolls to use the carpool lane on parts of the 10 and 110 freeways, the 405 will have a northbound carpool lane between the 10 and 101 freeways (construction begins in earnest Jan. 12), the regional connector will become reality, the subway will run to Fairfax, the Gold Line to Azusa, the Expo Line to Santa Monica, the Orange Line to Chatsworth and the Crenshaw Line to near LAX and connections with the Green Line. To name a few of Metro projects that are being studied or built.

Let us know what you think or if you have any other milestones you find noteworthy by emailing us at thesource@metro.net.

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Expo Line releases final environmental report for Phase 2 from Culver City to Santa Monica

The proposed route for the second phase of the Expo Line from Culver City to Santa Monica. Click above for a larger image. The broken purple line indicates the preferred route alternative that the Expo Line is studying.

The final environmental document for Phase 2 of the Expo Line light rail project from Culver City to Santa Monica was released today with several key changes.

The entire final environmental impact report is on the Expo Line Construction Authority website and a press release from the Authority is after the jump. From the press release, here are the key changes to the way the line is being designed:

•Inclusion of a design option that removes the park-and-ride lot at the Westwood station;

•A Maintenance Facility design option which includes Santa Monica College and Verizon properties with a 100-110 foot buffer, providing additional protection from the residential community to the south of the proposed facility;

•Accommodation of a continuous bikeway from the Phase 1 terminus to Santa Monica;

•An additional grade separation at Centinela;

•Addition of a 3rd northbound lane on Sepulveda for the at-grade crossing;

•Inclusion of a design option for grade separation at Sepulveda if outside funding sources become available.

There has been some controversy in the community over which streets the Expo Line will cross at street level and those it will go over on a bridge. The plans for the line still include street level crossings at Overland, Westwood and Sepulveda. Some residents have complained that frequent train crossings of those busy streets will delay north-south traffic in the area; the city of Los Angeles transportation department has signed off on the street-level crossings. The final EIR includes a detailed discussion on the impacts of both street level and grade separated crossings, as well as traffic analyses done on the area over the past eight months.

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How’s that Blue Line bus bridge working for you?

A line of Metro Rapid buses wait for Blue Line passengers outside of the 7th Street Metro Center station. Photo: Fred Camino.

Regular Blue Line service was supposed to resume today after planned disruptions this weekend due to Expo Line construction. But the bus bridge continues this morning as work is being done tying Expo Line tracks into the Blue Line.

Metro provided buses to transport Blue Line passengers between the 7th Street Metro Center station and the Washington Station but warned of delays of up to 40 minutes. I was at 7th Street Metro Center on Saturday evening around 5:30 p.m. and noticed Metro staff placed around the station directing passengers to the bus bridge set up at the Hope Street entrance of the station.
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Blue Line construction this weekend

Just a reminder: there is no Blue Line light rail service this weekend in downtown Los Angeles between the Washington station and Metro Center. The reason: tracks from the under-construction Expo Line must be joined together with Blue Line tracks. The two lines will be sharing a short stretch of track in downtown.

Buses will carry Blue Line passengers between the Washington station and Metro Center/7th. But passengers should plan on delays that could be up to 40 minutes. Rail service in that area will cease tonight (Friday) at 9 p.m. and resume on Monday morning.

Here’s a recent press release with more info.