The bridge will be at the site of the old at-grade crossing just north of REI and south of In-N-Out. Rendering: Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority.

Serious work on the bridge over Santa Anita Avenue will begin in April — and already there is a lot of work up and down the 11.5-mile alignment for the Gold Line extension between eastern Pasadena and the Azusa/Glendora border. The bridge over Santa Anita means that the Gold Line will be able to travel between the existing Del Mar station in Old Pasadena and the new Arcadia station entirely grade-separated with no street crossings. It should be a quick ride.

Here’s the latest update from the project from Habib Balian, the CEO of the Foothill Extension Construction Authority, the agency building the line that Metro will operate once it’s built:

The Construction Authority and Foothill Transit Contractors briefed Arcadia Mayor Bob Harbicht last Friday on the construction activities taking place at the Colorado Bridge, and other upcoming activities in the city. The Colorado Bridge is one of more than twenty bridges being constructed as part of the overall project, and the first of three to be built in the city of Arcadia. As part of the briefing, we discussed the residential and business community outreach effort being conducted around these activities, which will require long-term street and lane closures. Important to our efforts is promotion of local businesses affected by construction.

The Pasadena Star News published a story about the briefing and the upcoming work in Arcadia and how it will impact businesses on Santa Anita Avenue. The article (below) highlights the new grade-separated crossing to be built over Santa Anita Avenue; construction will begin following completion of the Colorado Boulevard bridge in April. FTC has been actively working with the local businesses for the last year to prepare for the Santa Anita lane closures, including finding the best way to maintain access to their businesses.

In addition, work continues to start in many areas of the corridor. Yesterday, the first of two dozen at-grade crossings went into construction. Highland Avenue, in Duarte, closed for four weeks to build the crossing. Crews began demolition, and will begin installing underground utilities and equipment next.

As construction impacts streets throughout the corridor, the Construction Authority is emailing notices to those that have signed up to receive them. If you have not done so already, we encourage you to sign up at www.foothillextension.org.

 

One note from yours truly, who earlier today consumed a Double-Double for lunch: for those quoted in the story concerned they won’t be able to access the In-N-Out on Santa Anita, there are a couple other In-N-Outs nearby: the one at Walnut and Craig in Pasadena and another at Huntington and Atlantic in Alhambra, which is also conveniently near stops for several Metro bus lines — the 78, 79, 176, 260, 378, 485 and 762. As the Star News story notes, the In-N-Out on Santa Anita will be open during construction although traffic will que up on Colorado instead of Santa Anita.