Attentive Source readers will recall that a construction contract was signed earlier this month to build the Gold Line extension from its current terminus in Azusa to Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne and Pomona with an option to continue to Claremont and Montclair (if funding can be secured).
The above video from the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority explains how the project will be built. The Construction Authority is an independent agency that is building the project. When done, the project will be handed over to Metro, which will operate the line.
Utility relocations are already underway on the line. Major construction is expected to begin in 2020 with the first step shifting the existing freight track so the right-of-way can also accommodate two light rail tracks. The project to Pomona is expected to be completed in 2025.
This will be a nice addition to the Metro system because it will allow for a transfer between the Gold Line and Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line at the Pomona Station. That will provide a rail link between the Inland Empire and Foothill Corridor cities in the San Gabriel Valley– and will be desperately-needed transit alternative to the bottomless pit of despair that is the 210 freeway at peak hours.
The project is largely funded by Measure M, the half-cent sales tax approved by L.A. County voters in 2016.
Categories: Projects
Always felt Pomona should have been the end of the line for the connection to Metrolink’s San Bernardino line. The price tag for the 3 miles Pomona to Montclair is ridiculous and a hard build in this stretch with narrow right of way through Claremont and a total relocation of the Metrolink station. Plus what now appears hesitation on San Bernardino county’s contribution to the project.
The money spent on this small stretch could be put to better use elsewhere, such double tracking more of Metrolinks’s San Bernardino line, speed up construction on other already approved Metro Lines or making some of the planned busways to light rail. Now if building costs drop considerably by the announced cut off date fine, but I am not feeling confident with that.
The current Gold Line is already badly over-crowded at rush hour. Will they eventually be adding a bunch more trains to accommodate all the new passengers?
The utilities contract was already done by the contractor WAR Construction Co.of Long Beach, CA. It was finished and it was a 3 million dollar contract.