Purple Line Extension station construction set to begin on LACMTA

LACMTA

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) will begin building the Wilshire/La Brea underground station for the Purple Line Extension Project June 10.

LACMTA’s contractor Skanska, Traylor and Shea, a Joint Venture (STS) will excavate a portion of Wilshire Boulevard and replace it with concrete deck panels that will act as a temporary street surface while underground station excavation continues below. No decking work will be conducted during the regular work week or during the Fourth of July or Labor Day weekends. The work is part of LACMTA’s first major station construction for the $6.3-billion subway project that will extend the Purple Line further west.

“Metro continues to transform transportation in L.A. County and we’re now ready to begin building the first of three subway stations that will provide more Angelenos with fast, frequent, high-capacity transit service along Wilshire Boulevard – one of our region’s most congested corridors,” said Mark Ridley-Thomas, L.A. County supervisor and LACMTA Board chair.

The 22-weekend closure schedule will consist of three separate decking phases at Wilshire/La Brea. The first phase will comprise three weekend closures from Detroit Street to La Brea Avenue. The second phase will include three weekends at the La Brea intersection. The third and biggest phase will comprise 16 consecutive weekend closures from La Brea Avenue to Highland Avenue.

The contractor will also conduct other work activities for the subway during the weekend closures to work as efficiently as possible.

The first section of the Purple Line Extension Project now under construction will add nearly four miles of subway from the Wilshire/Western Purple Line Station west to Wilshire/La Cienega and include three new stations at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega. Construction of the first subway section began in early 2015. The first section is scheduled to be operational in 2023. Two subsequent sections are also planned that will add four more stations ultimately extending the subway to Westwood/VA Hospital by 2035 under current funding scenarios. LACMTA is pursuing alternate funding sources to accelerate this construction.

www.metro.net/purplelineext

https://www.metro.net