LA Metro wishes to have $16.5 billion of California state surplus

LA Metro wants billions of state surplus for light-rail projects.

Steve Hymon/LACMTA

The state of California has a pot of money for infrastructure projects, and LA Metro has its hand in it.

The transit agency is asking the state legislature for $16.5 billion of a $46 billion state budget surplus. Some of the money would be used for the Foothill Extension of the Metro Gold (L) Line. It is expected to cost $670 million to connect Pomona to Claremont. The line would be the first linking Los Angeles County with San Bernardino County, and would extend LA Metro’s longest light-rail trolley, which currently sits at 31 miles from East Los Angeles to Azusa, another 3.3 miles.

LA Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins has voiced her support for the Foothill Extension project, and the LA Metro board has sent letters to key Sacramento lawmakers and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Gold Line extension has been on the agency’s wish list since 2009, but rising material and labor costs have kept the endeavor on the back burner. The Metro Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority, LA Metro, and local lawmakers failed to secure funding from state and federal sources in 2020 and 2021.

Other projects in the $16.5 billion request by LA Metro are:

• The L Line Eastside Extension, Phase 2, from eastern terminus in East L.A. to Lambert Road in Whittier;
• The East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor that would run along Van Nuys Boulevard and East San Fernando Road;
• The C Line extension from Redondo Beach to Torrance;
• The Inglewood Transit Connector Project;
• The Sepulveda Transit Corridor; and
• The West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor.

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