A free bus shuttle will replace L Line (Gold) service for the next 22 months between Union Station and Pico/Aliso Station due to Regional Connector Transit Project construction. The shuttle will run in both directions. The current Little Tokyo/Arts District Station will also be permanently closed and demolished and replaced with a new underground station that will debut when this closure concludes in 2022.
The bus shuttle will depart from Bay 5 at Union Station’s Patsaouras Plaza and make the following stops: 1st St/San Pedro St, 1st St/Vignes St and 1st St/G.G.Marquez. Buses will run on the same schedule as trains — approximately every 12 minutes during midday and every 20 minutes in the early morning and late evening. L Line service will continue between Union Station and Azusa and between Pico/Aliso and Atlantic Station.
Additional bus service to access Union Station, Little Tokyo, Arts District and Boyle Heights is also available via Line 30, Line 40 and DASH D.
An extended street closure of Temple Street east of Alameda Street is also planned to allow for the construction of the Temple Street portal and the underground tunnel box. The L Line (Gold) bridge ramp connecting Little Tokyo to Union Station will also be reconstructed.
This is the final push for construction on the Regional Connector, which will connect the A (Blue), E (Expo) and L Lines via a pair of new 1.9-mile light rail tunnels under downtown. The Regional Connector will make light rail trips to and through downtown much quicker and greatly reduce the need to transfer to reach many destinations.
As part of the upcoming construction, the L Line tracks from East L.A. and Azusa will both be connected to the new tunnel. The current Little Tokyo/Arts District street-level station will also be demolished and replaced by a new underground station that will be on the other (south/west) side of Alameda Street. That is a more convenient location for many riders.
The merged A, E and L Lines are scheduled to begin using the new tunnels in late 2022. Under the operating plan proposed by Metro staff, one light rail line will run between East Los Angeles and Santa Monica. The other line will run between Azusa and Long Beach. The two lines will share five downtown L.A. stations for easy transfers. For more information about the project, visit metro.net/connectorclosure.
A 24/7 in-language assistance project hotline can be reached at 213-922-7277 to address concerns. Metro’s Trip Planner and 323-Go-Metro will also be ready to assist riders with their trip planning needs.
Categories: Projects, Service Alerts
What a joke, it’s a good thing I only use the Gold Line between Union Station and Pasadena. And Patsouras Plaza is already a mess, you want to add to that?
I actually have to agree. This could’ve been done for in 3 months. Built the tunnel under the station while service continues to run above ground, then you once the tunnels are ready to be connected to the system, close the station down during the time needed to destroy the station and surface the tunnels. This just makes the system look bad and it’s obvious Metro doesn’t look ahead, hence why the Santa Ana Corridor would require a separate station for a stop in Little Tokyo.
[…] nearly two years, in order to connect the surface L Line tracks to the Regional Connector subway. Metro will operate a bus shuttle from October 24 though mid-2022 when the Regional Connector […]