The Regional Connector project last week entered a new phase of construction—known as ‘steady state’—at the future underground 1st/Central Station in Little Tokyo. Construction at the easternmost end of the Connector’s route is now fully underground and behind barriers. Crews fully restored all lanes of traffic at 1st Street and Alameda Street and added new, high-visibility crosswalks.

In order to reach this project benchmark, workers successfully installed piles and deck panels across the intersection of 1st and Alameda, adjacent to the Gold Line’s existing Little Tokyo/Arts District station. This progress allows crews to continue mining operations beneath the thoroughfare and make way for the tunnel boring machine and tunneling operations to begin in early 2017.

The Regional Connector is a 1.9-mile underground tunnel in downtown Los Angeles that will tie together the Blue, Expo and Gold Lines. The future 1st/Central Station will replace the current Little Tokyo/Arts District Station and there will be two other underground stations — at 2nd/Broadway to serve the Civic Center area and 2nd/Hope that will allow easy access to the Music Center, Disney Concert Hall, the Broad, MOCA and other destinations along Grand Avenue and in the area.

The project is funded by the Measure R half-cent sales tax increase approved by L.A. County voters in 2008 and a federal grant. Here’s the project home page, which contains tons of great info.