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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.

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
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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

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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