LA Metro Regional Connector
LOS ANGELES – LA Metro announced this week it will officially open its Regional Connector transit project June 16. The project, which began in 2013, will make it easier to ride across LA County as passengers will be able to travel between Azusa and Long Beach, and between East Los Angeles and Santa Monica, without transferring lines. It will improve connections, bringing together the Metro L (Gold), A (Blue), E (Expo), B (Red), and D (Purple) lines at the 7th Street/Metro Center Station.
The 1.9 miles of new track laid for the project will allow light rail trains to travel between Union Station and the busy 7th Street/Metro Center Station in Downtown’s Financial District. Before the Regional Connector, that’s a journey only Metro’s heavy rail lines could make. Bridging this gap allows Metro to merge the L (Gold) line with the A (Blue) and E (Expo) lines, creating two lines where there were once three. The new A and E lines will share five downtown Los Angeles stations. Some passengers riding to and through downtown Los Angeles could save up to 20 minutes by eliminating the need to transfer. Metro will launch the Regional Connector with the existing 10-minute peak and 12-minute midday and weekend service frequencies for the A and E lines.
“For the first time since the Blue Line opened in 1990, it will now offer a single-seat ride from Long Beach to Union Station,” L.A. County Supervisor and Metro Board Member Janice Hahn said in a statement.
The Regional Connector includes three new underground stations at Little Tokyo/Arts District, Historic Broadway Station and Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill. To mark the opening, Metro will provide free rides on the entire Metro transit system including Metro bus and rail lines as well as Metro Bike Share services, during opening weekend.
Metro contracted with Regional Connector Constructors (RCC), a joint venture between Skanska USA Civil West California District, Inc., and Traylor Brothers, Inc., to design and build the $1.8 billion Regional Connector.
For additional information visit metro.net/regionalconnector.
As has been mentioned in newswire comments before, we can’t seem to build anything in a timely manner in the USA anymore. 10 years for a tunnel that is less than 2 miles long?
Welcome to building in a dense urban earthquake prone megapolis.