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Eyes on the Street: Universal City Ped Bridge Nearly Ready For Its Close-Up

3:14 PM PST on March 8, 2016

Metro's new Universal City bridge is nearly complete. Photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.
Metro's new Universal City bridge will be finished in a month. Photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.
Metro's new Universal City bridge is nearly complete. Photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.

Universal Studios is a month away from the April 7 grand opening for their new Harry Potter attraction "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter." CEO Phil Washington has pledged that Metro will serve Harry Potter fans by completing its $27 million pedestrian bridge connecting the Metro Red Line Universal City Station with Universal Studios.

The project, officially the Universal City/Studio City Station Pedestrian Bridge Project, crosses Lankershim Boulevard. It "[f]acilitates access to all 3 corners of Lankershim and Campo de Cahuenga intersection." That intersection, of course, has four intersections. The one corner that the bridge misses just happens to serve a half dozen bus lines. The bridge may make pedestrian crossings a little safer, but, by doing away with streetside foot traffic, it signals a wholesale surrender from making street-level Lankershim anything other than a car-choked stroad.

Last week, the overall structure of the bridge was looking nearly complete, but a lot of final construction tasks were still underway. More pictures after the jump. 

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Bridge escalator ramp under construction next to Red Line escalator entrance
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View of bridge structure from the Universal Studios side of Lankershim Boulevard
The formerly $19M Universal City Pedestrian Bridge now costs $30M. Photo: Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.
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Construction workers to show the scale of the new bridge
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The bridge curves behind the Universal Studios marquee sign
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It is not quite the Hogwarts Express, and SBLA's criticism, it is nonetheless good timing to see construction finishing in time to serve Red Line riders next month.

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