The Metro Board of Directors just voted to launch a draft environmental study of extending the Green Line 4.6 miles from Redondo Beach to the Torrance Regional Transit Center and to call the project the South Bay Green Line Extension.

Several elected officials from the South Bay spoke in favor of the project, including El Segundo Mayor Kelly McDowell who said area residents are “exceedingly supportive” of the project.

The line would be built on the so-called Harbor Subdivision rail right-of-way that is owned by Metro. Here’s a link to the recently-completed alternatives analysis that looked at different transit options for the right-of-way. The study concluded that lengthening the Green Line to Torrance is for now the best use of the corridor.

Measure R provides $272 million for the project, which is expected to cost $495 million in 2009 dollars and be complete by 2035 according to the agency’s long-range plan. If the Crenshaw light rail project is also built, there would then be a light rail connection between Torrance and the future Expo Line with a stop at LAX along the way.