UPDATE: The Metro Board of Directors decided Thursday to delay until January 8 the start of the three-month closure of the Little Tokyo/Arts District Station that had been scheduled to begin Dec. 4. The postponement by the Board is to acknowledge community concerns about the closure’s impact on holiday traffic. Here is the full news release.

The earlier blog post about the upcoming work: 

Major track relocation and tunneling work on the Gold Line in the Little Tokyo area continues for the Regional Connector project with a three-month closure of Little Tokyo/Arts District Station beginning Friday night.

The Gold Line tracks will eventually be moved from the middle of 1st Street to the north side in order to build the new tunnel entrance where the tracks are currently located.

Here’s what you need to know about service during the closure:

•From Friday, Dec. 4 starting at 9 p.m. through February 2016: bus shuttles will replace Gold Line train service between Union Station and Pico/Aliso Station. Bus shuttles will operate every six minutes during weekday peak periods and every 10 minutes midday, evening, nights and weekends.

The trip between Union Station and Pico/Aliso Station is expected to take about 15 minutes. There will be Metro staff on hand to help customers navigate the shuttle in addition to signage at all stations. Buses will pick up from Union Station at Patsaouras Plaza Bus Bay 7 and drop off at Bay 9.

The shuttle bus will run from Patsaouras Bus Plaza at Union Station to 1st/Judge John Aliso and then to the Pico/Aliso Station.

•If you do not want to deal with the bus shuttles, please consider using the Metro Local Bus 30, which runs between the Gold Line’s Indiana Station in Boyle Heights and downtown Los Angeles.

•During closure: Gold Line service will operate between Pico/Aliso Station and Atlantic Station in East L.A. every 10 minutes during peak hours. Service between Union Station and Sierra Madre Villa in Pasadena will continue to run its regular schedule.

•Vehicle traffic will also be impacted by the closure. Specifically:

–One lane will remain open on Alameda Street between Temple Street and 2nd Street.

–Westbound 1st Street will be closed between Alameda Street and Vignes Street from Dec. 4 through February 2016.

–One lane on eastbound 1st Street will remain open between Alameda Street and Vignes Street.

–There will be a full closure of 1st Street between Central Avenue and Alameda Street that will take place intermittently with detours around the work area.

We will provide updates on The Source as construction work continues, or you can follow Metro on Twitter @metrolosangeles.

Here’s the construction notice.

Here’s the official press release from Metro.

The Regional Connector will tie together the Blue, Expo and Gold Lines and allow for one-seat rides for more riders to and through downtown Los Angeles and will allow for more frequent rail service. The Connector will include three new underground stations at 1^st Street/Central Avenue (which will replace the street level Little Tokyo Station), 2^nd Street/Broadway and 2^nd Place/Hope Street in downtown Los Angeles. After the Regional Connector is complete, light rail service will run between Long Beach and Azusa and between Santa Monica and East Los Angeles. 

The Regional Connector project is funded in part by Measure R, the half-cent sales tax increase approved by Los Angeles County voters in 2008, as well as a significant federal grant.