Construction of the Regional Connector has reached the halfway mark, and crews can now start building the connection to the 7th St/Metro Center station in downtown L.A.’s Financial District. Beginning Saturday, July 7, a series of Flower St weekend closures will be in effect through October 22.

Deck panel being lifted into place. Photo by Gary Leonard, 2017.

Excavating Flower St to make room for deck beams and panels. Photo by Gary Leonard, 2017.

A view below the new temporary decking. Not pictured: traffic flowing smoothly at the surface. Photo by Ken Karagozian, 2018.

Welding together the new support structure at 5th St and Flower St. Photo by Gary Leonard, 2017.

In coordination with other construction along Flower Street, this 14-weekend series of closures will allow crews to perform “cut and cover” work at the intersection of 6th and Flower. As cut-and-cover suggests, crews will dig a large trench across Flower, which will then be covered by concrete deck panels. Once the deck is in place, vehicle traffic resumes on the surface while construction continues below.

Detours will be in effect from Friday evenings at 8 p.m. through Monday mornings at 5 a.m. Plan ahead to avoid delays and use alternate routes if you are driving into downtown.

Flower St weekend closures, July 2018 – Detour A

Flower St weekend closures, July 2018 – Detour B

Flower St weekend closures, July 2018 – Detour C

The Regional Connector is tying together the Blue, Expo and Gold Lines via twin 1.9-mile tunnels under DTLA. The project will make taking light rail faster to and through downtown L.A.