Curious about what the first six stations of the Gold Line Foothill Extension will look like?
The Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority (the agency building the 11.5-mile line between eastern Pasadena and the Azusa/Glendora border) has produced a series of videos introducing the art and artists of the Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte/City of Hope, Irwindale, Azusa Downtown, and APU/Citrus College stations.
Check out the videos and official press release bellow:
Arcadia
ARVE Error: need id and providerMonrovia
ARVE Error: need id and providerDuarte/City of Hope
ARVE Error: need id and providerIrwindale
ARVE Error: need id and providerAsuza Downtown
ARVE Error: need id and providerAPU/Citrus College
ARVE Error: need id and provider“MONROVIA, CA – Today, the Foothill Gold Line released a video series showcasing the six station artists or artist teams developing artwork for the future Gold Line light rail stations from Pasadena to Azusa. The future stations – Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte/City of Hope, Irwindale, Azusa Downtown, and APU/Citrus College – are under construction and are nearing installation of certain elements of the artwork.
Artist for each of the stations were selected by their respective communities in 2007 and are now part of the design-build team constructing the project. The artist or artist team is working closely with the builder to make sure their approved materials, color palate and art elements are integrated into the stations as they continue to take shape.
‘With construction of all six stations now underway, we wanted to provide an update from each of the artists about their ongoing work,” stated Foothill Gold Line Director of Public Affairs Lisa Levy Buch. “We feel that the cities along the project did an excellent job selecting artists who would successfully capture and incorporate the character and history of each of their respective communities into their art. These videos provide a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look into how those concepts are now being realized.’
Construction of the Foothill Gold Line is on time and on budget to be completed in September 2015, when it will be turned over to Metro for testing and pre-revenue service. Metro will determine when the line opens for passenger service. The artwork is part of the effort now underway.”
The Gold Line Foothill Extension is one of three Metro Rail projects under construction along with the second phase of the Expo Line and the Crenshaw/LAX Line. Construction of the Regional Connector will begin soon and the Metro Board is expected to approve a contract for construction of the Purple Line Extension later this year. It will be the fifth rail line under construction because of Measure R. In addition, Metro has begun receiving the first of 550 new state-of-the-art buses and is spending $1.2 billion to overhaul the Metro Blue Line, including the purchase of new light rail vehicles.
Categories: Projects
Turnstiles and gates are now a requirement for all new stations per the Metro Board last year. All of these plans will have to be scrapped and be redone.
It’s cheaper to build things right from the start during the planning stages than keep making the same mistakes and going back to fix them later.
To repeat my earlier point: an analysis is being done to see which stations may be able to have gates in the future. That doesn’t mean anything has to be scrapped and redone at this point.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Lorenzo,
I agree with you that I’d rather have something than a bland empty space to wait for trains or buses. But I see it differently: add shops and retail space instead – actual money makers that helps Metro bring in additional revenue. Then Metro can art later once they have the money.
The priorities should be in order especially when Metro is having a budget shortfall that they have to raise fares. They need to be looking at stopping wasteful spending and finding ways to make money.
Art can always be added later.
To their defense, isn’t the budget allocation around 1 percent of the project total? And while what you mention is important, to say that the art isn’t important or that no one cares about it is unfair to those that don’t mind a little art in their lives especially if this is one of the few ways to get it. I’d rather have some art then some sad, bland looking place to wait for a train or a bus. The lack of shade is doesn’t help so shout out to Metro: would be nice to have more shade and protection from road noise and such.
The drawing at 1:49 of the last video (APU-Citrus) doesn’t show turnstiles (but it does show the TVMs and validators)… are these Foothill Extension stations NOT going to have turnstiles?
Hi Alex;
Metro is doing an engineering analysis to determine if/how gates could be added to the Foothill Extension project as well as Expo Phases 1 and 2. NO decision yet to install them, but the agency is looking into it. One of the big issues is whether stations and platforms have space for the gates.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Isn’t it amazing that Metro allocates a huge budget for this, yet little to nothing in order update the TAP system to its full potential?
So we can spend millions of dollars in useless artwork which no one cares about, but we won’t spend a single dime on upgrading the TAP website, putting in a fare cap system, or doing automated transfers.
Common sense suggest that people should pour money to money makers first before spending money on extravagant things. TAP is a money maker. Art is not. Therefore, spend money on fixing TAP first, and then when you get the extra money with a better TAP system, THEN you can spend money on art.
Who are we kidding. Of course common sense is lacking in Metro. This is the same agency that thought the honor system was going to work. What a surprise.