L.A. Metro board approves initial segment route for West Santa Ana Branch Project

Written by Steve Hymon, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
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L.A. Metro completing track work on A and E lines.
L.A. Metro

The Metro Board of Directors approved Los Angeles Union Station as the northern terminus of the West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor Project.

The 14.8-mile Slauson/A Line to Pioneer route was also approved as the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the project’s initial segment between Artesia and Downtown Los Angeles.

A Facebook Live event was held Friday afternoon; watch it here.

Spanning 19.3 miles, the new light rail project will include 12 stations connecting the Gateway Cities of Artesia, Cerritos, Bellflower, Paramount, Downey, South Gate, Cudahy, Bell, Huntington Park, Vernon, the unincorporated Florence-Graham community and Downtown Los Angeles, with 1.4 million residents living near the route. The project will provide relief to the limited mobility and transit options currently available to these communities. Together, the Gateway Cities have populations and employment densities that are five times higher than the L.A. County average. In addition, the new light rail line will provide transfers to the Metro C Line (Green), Metro A Line (Blue) and the L.A. County regional transit network.

Metro staff will proceed with completing a Final EIS/R by spring 2023 for the initial segment, allowing for a groundbreaking in 2023 and the delivery of this 14.8-mile segment between 2033-35. At the same time, Metro staff will identify a cost-effective route in lieu of the aerial and underground route previously evaluated for the 4.5-mile Slauson/A Line (Blue) to Union Station segment.

The project is estimated to reduce end-to-end transit travel time to 40 minutes in the corridor. The project is funded by Measure R and M voter-approved transportation sales taxes as well $300 million in state funding. With today’s Board actions, Metro can also aggressively pursue more federal funding for the project.

The Board also approved Metro’s recommendation to build a maintenance and storage facility for its light rail vehicles in Bellflower. The approved site has the fewest community and economic impacts of the options that Metro studied.

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