Expo Line train testing for week of June 5
Here’s the update from the Expo Line Construction Authority:
Metro to offer free subway service and more frequent buses and trains to help region cope with 405 Sepulveda Pass closure
Free rides on the subway will be offered by Metro to help area residents move around the region when the 405 freeway is shut down over the Sepulveda Pass on the weekend of July 15 to 17, agency officials said Friday. In addition, Metro plans to run frequent weekday service [continue reading]
Metro officials talk planning at TOD conference
The Los Angeles Chapter of the Urban Land Institute held a conference in Pasadena on Thursday to discuss transit-oriented development in the greater-L.A. area. The aim of the conference was to figure out a way to put more development around transit hubs. It’s a strategy embraced in many places to [continue reading]
Small update on San Fernando Valley bus projects
The Measure R sales tax increase approved by voters in 2008 included three key projects for the San Fernando Valley: •The Orange Line busway extension from Canoga Park to the Chatsworth Metrolink station, which is under construction and scheduled for completion in 2012. •A transit project to connect the Westside [continue reading]
405 closure question: how bad is traffic going to be?
As you are hopefully aware by now, the 405 freeway will be closed between the 10 and 101 freeways — in other words, over the Sepulveda Pass — from the evening of Friday, July 15, until the early morning of Monday, July 18. The freeway is being shut down for [continue reading]
Expo Line phase one construction activities for June
Here’s the notice from the Expo Line Construction Authority, the agency building the line that Metro will eventually operate:
A portion of 405 freeway will be closed on the weekend of July 16-17 for Mulholland Bridge demolition work
Here is the news release issued today by LAPD, LAFD, CHP, LADOT, Metro and Caltrans: Countdown to the Closure: Extended 53-Hour Closure of I-405 Freeway Between U.S. 101 and I-10 [continue reading]
Other Board actions taken today
Two loose ends from today’s Board of Directors meeting: •The Board approved rolling passes for TAP cards — meaning that weekly and monthly passes will be good seven and 30 days from the time they’re purchased instead of being tied to the calendar. Metro’s target date to begin such sales [continue reading]
$4.145 billion annual budget for Metro approved by Board
In the sixth hour of their monthly meeting on Thursday, the Metro Board just approved a $4.145 billion budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. It’s the largest budget in the agency’s history, mostly due to money being spent on the construction and planning of Measure R [continue reading]
Board votes to add Leimert Park Village station to Crenshaw/LAX Line — if the funds can be found
The Metro Board of Directors voted Thursday to add an underground station in the heart of Leimert Park Village as part of the Crenshaw/LAX light rail line — but on one big condition. The station would only be built if funds, estimated at about $131 million, can be secured. The [continue reading]