LA Metro D-Line Expo Purple Line Incl.: Crenshaw/LAX Westside LRT

New video: constructing the Crenshaw/LAX Line | The Source "We’re beginning with the Crenshaw/LAX Line because it’s the furthest along and 91 percent complete as of this writing. The 8.5-mile, $2.058-billion light rail line is scheduled to open next year with eight new stations serving the Crenshaw Corridor, Inglewood, Westchester and the LAX communities."

New video: Building the Regional Connector | The Source "The project is currently 56 percent complete with a scheduled opening in 2022."

A similar video is coming up about the LA Purple Line.

Fresh video: Building the Purple Line Extension to the Westside | The Source

FTA gives Metro go ahead to start work on stations, track and systems on Section 3 of Purple Line Extension | The Source Referring to a Full Funding Grant Agreement with the Federal Transit Administration, "Again, in plain English, the FFGA is not a completely done deal yet but the FTA’s actions this week indicates the deal is progressing well."

Over at LA Metro's page Purple Line Extension, I find that stage 1 has lots of construction notices, while stages 2 and 3 are in preconstruction, including searches for utilities. For stage 2, I find Constellation Blvd. Closure at Century Park East, Beginning September 21 for a tunnel-boring-machine launch box near the planned Century City station. The closure will be for some 9 - 15 months.

Metro hires a contractor to build the Purple Line subway to West L.A. - more evidence of them going ahead with the third segment of the three planned ones. The first two segments are now under construction.

Metro prepares to upgrade the Valley’s popular Orange Line bus route - Curbed LA This bus-rapid-transit line will get crossing gates and elevated stations, in preparation for conversion to light rail.

Community meetings to be held to discuss first/last mile plans for East San Fernando Valley light rail project | The Source - it will go north from the Orange Line in Van Nuys Blvd., and then northeast. It will turn into San Fernando Blvd. and go northwest to Sylmar.

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/ ... nus--57818

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) earlier this week announced that its first tunnel boring machine has broken through from the Wilshire/La Brea Station site to the Wilshire/Western Terminus in Los Angeles.

The boring machine is one of two being used to mine parallel subway tunnels to extend LA Metro’s Purple Line from the current Wilshire/Western Terminus to the Wilshire/La Brea Station site.
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The $9.8-billion, 9-mile underground subway project ultimately will extend LA Metro’s Purple Line from its current terminus in Koreatown to Westwood/VA Hospital in West Los Angeles.
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Purple Line Extension Section 1 tunnel boring machine breaks through to Wilshire/Western | The Source

The 1,000-ton, 400-feet long TBM named “Soyeon” burrowed through the last remaining cluster of soil 50 to 70 feet below busy Wilshire Boulevard Tuesday afternoon, June 11. The TBM is one of two TBMs to mine approximately two miles of parallel subway tunnels between the future Wilshire/La Brea Station and the existing Wilshire/Western Station.

Soyeon took 8 months to dig all that way. That TBM will be joined later this month by its companion TBM, Elsie. That TBM is digging the other of the two bores of the Purple Line's tunnel. The two TBM's will then be disassembled, taken back to La Brea, reassembled, and made to tunnel westward to Wilshire-La Cienega. This tunneling should be done by mid-2020.

“Harriet” and “Ruth” will dig tunnels for Purple Line Extension between Beverly Hills and Century City; artwork for TBMs unveiled | The Source Tunneling should begin in early 2020.

Crenshaw/LAX Line pics and getting to and from LAX: HWR, June 13 | The Source -- pictures of the line from an airliner.

Second tunnel boring machine on Purple Line Extension reaches Wilshire/Western Station | The Source

It’s official. Elsie, Metro’s second tunnel boring machine for the first section of the Purple Line Extension, has made it to Wilshire/Western Station in Koreatown. The Goliath-sized TBM made it to the station at 3:57 p.m. on Thursday (June 27) — the tunnel at left in the above photo.

Construction Authority signs construction contract for $2.1-billion Foothill Gold Line project - The Source
It will be built out from Glendora to Pomona by 2025 (9 mi), with Pomona to Montclair done in 2028 (3 mi) if enough money can be found.

Metro staff studies building Initial Operating Segments on West Santa Ana Branch project - The Source - essentially building the outer parts first.

IOS-1 goes from a station on the Green Line in Paramount out to Pioneer station in Artesia.
IOS-2 goes from Slauson station on the Blue Line to that Green Line Paramount station, and then includes IOS-1.
The rest of the line is from Slauson to downtown LA.

LA Metro's news blog, The Source - Metro News & Reviews has a Spanish version: El Pasajero ("The Passenger")

Groundbreaking held for Airport Metro Connector project | The Source

That's a station on the Crenshaw-LAX line that will connect to the LAX ALRS system now under construction: LAWA Official Site | Automated People Mover

From east to west, its stations will be:

• Consolidated Rent-A-Car (ConRAC) Facility
• Airport Metro Connector (AMC) Station
• Intermodal Transportation Facility-West (ITF-West) -- a big parking garage, it seems
• Three stations in the airport terminal building itself.

It's to be done by 2023.

None | Crenshaw/LAX Project Newsletters - latest one February 2021 Construction Newsletter

We invite you to take a look at the latest progress presented during our last community meeting. The Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project is now 97.7% complete. Train testing is now ongoing along various sections of the alignment, you can watch the latest video of train testing along Crenshaw Bl here

We invite you to take a look at the latest progress presented during our last community meeting. The Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project is now 97.7% complete. Train testing is now ongoing along various sections of the alignment, you can watch the latest video of train testing along Crenshaw Bl here.

The stations look nearly complete. Crenshaw-LAX line videos - the most recent ones are of test runs.

Heads up: 10 upcoming weekend closures on A and E Line in DTLA for Regional Connector construction | The Source
That's the two downtown stations, Pico and 7th St. / Metro Center, and that's until the end of October.

Regional Connector Newsletters - the most recent one is in October 2019, but Construction Notices is more recent.

Concrete slabs for Flower St., Bunker Hill station, and Broadway station. Concrete pours for Little Tokyo station. Flower st. decking to be removed between 5th and 7th Sts.

Turning to the Purple Line, I find Purple Line Extension Newsletters with the latest one being February Newsletter of this year. There are also Construction Notices which are more up-to-date.

Section 1:

How Metro Successfully Tunneled Through Challenging Conditions For First Wilshire Subway Extension – Streetsblog Los Angeles - "Construction on the Westside Purple Line Extension Section 1 project (WPLE1) is now 70 percent complete, with more than 98 percent of tunneling safely completed." TBM's Elsie and Soyeon will excavate 550-ft tailtracks westward from Wilshire/La Cienega station.

The Section 1 stations are taking shape on the inside, with the construction notices showing pictures of interior work at La Cienega and La Brea.

Rail is being readied for installation. It's continuous welded rail, with some of the welding done before the rail is gotten into the tunnels.

Section 2:

From that Streetsblog article, TBM's Ruth and Harriet are now underneath Beverly Hills High School (Moreno Dr. + Lasky Dr.). They started from Century City / Constellation station (Constellation Blvd. + Avenue of the Stars), and they are headed eastward. They are now 1/3 of the way to Wilshire/Rodeo station, where they should arrive in fall of this year. They will end at the ends of the Section 1 tailtracks.

WIlshire/Rodeo is almost completely excavated and concrete pours should be starting. Excavation continues on Century/Constellation, and should be done in the 1st qtr of next year.

Section 3:

TBM's are being assembled for that part of the route. Parking Lot 42 for West LA VA Hospital has been closed for construction. It is SW of Wilshire Blvd. and I-405.

Foothill Gold Line construction continues.

Funding Status | Foothill Gold Line - It is currently funded from Glendora to Pomona, and the line's builders are seeking the funding needed to complete the line to Montclair.

From Headlines Archive | Foothill Gold Line is some project updates. From the July 22 update, the line's builders have done 1/3 of Glendora - Pomona. They have done 40% of freight-track relocation and 50% of the grade crossings. Of the 23 grade crossings, the builders have substantially completed 9 of them and closed 5 of them for construction. Of the 19 bridge structures, the builders have started work on over half of them, including two that are over major streets.

The freight line will stay at street level, but the light-rail line will have some street bridges.

The LA Pasadena Line (Gold, L) runs in the ATSF's former [wiki]Pasadena Subdivision[/wiki] Following it with Google Maps, the freight line is now cut off just east of the San Gabriel River between Duarte and Irwindale light-rail stations. A little west of it is a light-rail yard just east of California Ave. between Duarte and Monrovia stations.

Returning to the freight line, it looks recently rebuilt with concrete ties, and there are some industrial customers a little east of the river.

East of Citrus College, there does not look like much construction, though Google Maps may be out of date. There are some rather sizable streets that will likely be bridged by the light-rail line.

• Glendora: Grand Ave. + Foothill Blvd., Glendora Ave.? Loraine Ave.? Historic Rte. 66
• San Dimas: Cataract Ave. + Bonita Ave., San Dimas Ave.? San Dimas Canyon Rd.?
• LaVerne: Northward freight-RR branchline? Wheeler Ave.?
• Pomona: Geary Ave.? Towne Ave.?
• Claremont: Claremont Blvd.?

I then decided to follow the construction of the Crenshaw-LAX line. From Expo Blvd. to 46th St., it is in a tunnel, with no visible evidence. The line emerges at 46th St. and seems mostly complete until it submerges at 60th St. It emerges SW of 67th St. and follows a former RR ROW and also Florence Ave.

It turns away from Florence Ave. at Manchester Ave. and it meets a light-rail yard SW of where it crosses Arbor Vitae St.

I looked for evidence of construction of the LAX ALRS, and I could find none. I found a big cleared area for ConRAC and another cleared area for ITF-West, but no evidence of construction of the trackway. It would start at the south end of the LR yard and go westward in 96th St., then south in Airport Blvd. to Century Blvd. It would then turn west and head for the airport terminal buildings.

Returning to the Crenshaw-LAX line, it continues until it meets the Green Line. The route splits in two, with both ends merging with the Green Line, in both eastward and westward directions. This wye is completely double-tracked.

I checked Bing Maps, and it was even more out-of-date than Google Maps -- no clearings at either ConRAC or ITF-W. Looking at the Crenshaw-LAX line with it, it was mostly done, but with gaps at 59th St. and around 48th St. A few blocks north of it, Crenshaw Ave. looked like it had incompletely cleaned-up cut-and-cover.

lpetrich wrote: ↑Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:54 pm Groundbreaking held for Airport Metro Connector project | The Source

That's a station on the Crenshaw-LAX line that will connect to the LAX ALRS system now under construction: LAWA Official Site | Automated People Mover

From east to west, its stations will be:

• Consolidated Rent-A-Car (ConRAC) Facility
• Airport Metro Connector (AMC) Station
• Intermodal Transportation Facility-West (ITF-West) -- a big parking garage, it seems
• Three stations in the airport terminal building itself.

It's to be done by 2023.

Just to clarify something — none of the stations will be in any terminal buildings. There's simply no room to do so. Remember that LAX has 9 terminals. Instead, they are building the APM in the middle of the airport with pedestrian bridges connecting the three stations to the various terminals. The steel structure for the first bridge, connecting terminals 4/5 to the nearest station, was put up recently.

Most recent quarterly newsletter here: https://lawa.bmetrack.com/c/v?e=12208FB ... xctQ%3D%3D