There is lots happening up and down the alignment of the 8.5-mile light rail project between Exposition and Crenshaw boulevards and the Green Line. Completion is targeted for 2019. The project is being paid for mostly with funds from Measure R, the half-cent sales tax increase approved by Los Angeles County voters in 2008.
Northern Segment
“Harriet” to show up soon at Martin Luther King Jr. Station
Harriet has been moving southbound under Crenshaw Boulevard and is now 550 feet short of Martin Luther King Jr. Station. The tunnel boring machine (TBM) is 400 feet long and 21.5 feet in diameter. The TBM crew is manned by 75 workers on a 24/7 schedule. Harriet is expected to reach the north side of the Martin Luther King Jr. station box by the end of August.
Crenshaw/Expo and Martin Luther King Jr. stations
Walsh/Shea Corridor Constructors (WSCC) is now installing waterproof membrane and building lower walls (75 percent completed at Crenshaw/Expo and 20 percent at Martin Luther King, Jr.).
Leimert Park Station
The excavation of the third underground station is complete and waterproofing has been installed over the mud slab. Preparation for the invert slab has begun, which includes rebar and installation of plumbing, electrical and fire protection infrastructure.
UG4 (Portal exit/entrance to the tunnel, between Vernon Avenue and 48th Street)
Excavation continues on the exit portal from the underground segment. Lagging continues as does work on the removal of the Tesoro pipeline.
Park Mesa Heights (street level segment between 48th and 59th Street)
Work will be done in five stages on the northern segment of the right-of-way in Park Mesa Heights between 54th and 48th streets. New curbs, gutters and sidewalks are being built and new street lights and traffic signals will be installed. Crenshaw Boulevard will also be re-surfaced.
The Park Mesa North work is on-going and the majority of the work is expected to be completed by December 2016. The remaining work on Mesa Park Heights will be done under the same traffic control plan that will allow the contractor to build the guideway along the center of Crenshaw Boulevard between 48th to 59th streets.
The replacement of a storm drain at specific locations along the western side of Crenshaw Boulevard is also taking place from 48th to 52nd streets. This work still going and will last for another two more months.
UG3 (underground segment from 60th to 67th streets)
After the process to installing steel piles has been completed, a traffic reconfiguration on Crenshaw Boulevard will be done to create a work zone for excavating the median between 60th and 67th streets. This underground segment will be built with the cut and cover method.
Southern Section
Fairview Heights, Downtown Inglewood and Westchester/Veterans stations
Platform walls are being built at the Fairview Heights, Downtown Inglewood and Westchester/Veterans stations. At the Aviation/Century aerial station, more falsework (framing) is being prepared for the construction of the platform/station.
Guideway
WSCC continues to do grading work on the street level segment between Fairview Heights Station and Downtown Inglewood Station (with the foundation for the overhead catenary system 70 percent complete), as well as between Aviation/Century and Arbor Vitae and between Manchester to Westchester/Veterans.
Bridges
La Brea
The bridge is completed and the work on the north and south mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls is also 100 percent complete.
I-405 Bridge
Construction continues on the rail bridge over the 405 freeway where crews are working on the MSE walls. With the abutments and columns on both sides of the freeway finished, work will begin soon on the installation of falsework or framing to create the superstructure over the freeway.
Manchester Bridge
Work on the Manchester Bridge is 65 percent completed. Falsework (framing) reinforcement for the bridge superstructure continues and the concrete pouring will begin in the next weeks.
Aviation/Century Station/Bridge
The concrete pour is almost 98 percent complete and this is close to being the second of the project’s six bridges to be finished. WSCC is working on installing the falsework for the station. The MSE walls on the south and north side of the station has been completed.
111th Street Bridge
The bridge over the 111th Street is now finished along with most of the south MSE wall too. WSCC is working on the MSE north wall (85 percent completed). This bridge will allow motor vehicle traffic to enter and exit the cargo area of the airport.
Green Line Connection
Work continues on the bridge superstructure. The pouring of concrete is now at 15 percent. The MSE walls near Imperial are 65 percent complete.
Southwest Yard Maintenance Facility
Construction of the 115,650-square-foot facility began in June. The contractor Hensel Phelps/Herzog Joint Venture began demolition and leveling work to clear the way for a maintenance facility for 70 light-rail vehicles that will be used on the Crenshaw/LAX Line and Green Line. The new yard will include a main shop, washing facility, cleaning platform, material storage building and wheel truing shop, plus office space. About 200 Metro employees will work around-the-clock at the facility after the Crenshaw/LAX Line opens, which is targeted for 2019.
Categories: Projects
Thanks for posting more pictures of construction progress.
Perhaps Metro could borrow a drone for some aerial pics. I’d like to see an overview of the entire line especially the large Green Line connection structure and I-105 ‘flyunder’. Some of the design appears different than the final EIR drawings, inquiring minds deserve to see.
Hi Mike;
We have been discussing some ways to get some aerial views. One thing for anyone flying into LAX south runway — if you look out right side of the plane, you get a really good view of the trench along Aviation Boulevard and the new bridge/station over Century Boulevard.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source