As Source readers know, the Foothill Extension of the Gold Line was one of the big winners last month when the Board of Directors approved the agency’s long-range plan.

Under the initial long-range plan, the Foothill Extension between Pasadena and Azusa wasn’t supposed to open until 2017 (the map shows the plans for the entire line to Montclair). But the Board agreed that Metro would begin operating the line as soon as 2013. That’s on the condition that the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority – the independent agency charged with building the line — can arrange for a loan to speed up construction instead of waiting for the slower flow of Measure R money to the project.

Authority officials are fairly certain they can make that happen and have planned an event for Saturday at the future site of the Monrovia station. There will be an official unveiling of station signs, along with speeches from politicians, hot dogs, kiddie rides and — whew! — cotton candy. Click here for details.

The Authority is planning to begin construction in June on a bridge in Arcadia that would take the tracks from the middle of the 210 freeway to the south side of the 210. That project, officials told me, is contingent on getting the necessary money transferred to them from Metro by the end of the year.