Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Metro

Metro Expected to Approve Final Purple Line Subway Section 3 Contract this Week

This week Metro is expected to approve contracts for the third and final Purple Line extension. Image via Metro

Note: Metropolitan Shuttle, a leader in bus shuttle rentals, regularly sponsors coverage on Streetsblog San Francisco and Streetsblog Los Angeles. Unless noted in the story, Metropolitan Shuttle is not consulted for the content or editorial direction of the sponsored content.

At its monthly meeting tomorrow, the Metro Board is expected to approve staff recommendations for completing the Westside Purple Line extension Section 3. Specifically, the board would approve the project's overall $3.2 billion budget, and award contractor Tutor Perini a $1.36 billion design/build contract for stations, trackwork, systems and testing. The latest contract is contingent on receiving a final federal full funding grant agreement (FFGA).

This section is the last of three current phases that extend the Purple Line subway west. Sections one and two are already under construction and anticipated to be completed in 2023 and 2025, respectively. Section three will extend 2.59 miles from Century City to the Westwood VA Hospital.

Westside Purple Line Sections - map via Metro
Westside Purple Line Sections - map via Metro
Westside Purple Line sections - map via Metro

In June, 2018, the Metro board approved a $410 million contract to Frontier-Kemper/Tutor Perini JV for just the tunneling portion of Purple Line Section 3. That approval was contingent on Metro receiving a delayed go-ahead letter from the federal government, which arrived in September, just before the tunneling bid would have expired.

Now Metro is about to award the contract for the remaining work to complete Section 3.

As with the Foothill Gold Line and other construction contracts, prices are going up. In the Measure M expenditure plan, the Purple Line was estimated to cost $1.98 billion in 2015 dollars. Section 2 of the Purple Line extension - which has the same mileage and same number of stations - is costing $2.4 billion, in contrast with Section 3, now at $3.2 billion.

In June, when the tunnel contract was approved, Metro's staff report acknowledged some increased costs, citing increased property acquisition costs, an added crossover, and some additional contingency set-asides mandated by the Federal Transit Administration. In an email to SBLA, Metro spokesperson Dave Sotero stated that inflation in a hot construction market is a factor in cost increases between sections 2 and 3.

One factor contributing to delays and cost increases is the federal government's tardiness in getting congress-approved project dollars to transit agencies. Metro is still waiting for the Section 3 FFGA that was anticipated about a year ago. Had the feds approved the FFGA in early 2018, construction contracts could have been awarded sooner. Instead, as Metro's governmental affairs director asserted at a recent committee meeting, the FFGA had been further delayed during the federal government shutdown. It should arrive any day now.

None of this is to say that this important project should not be approved this week. To avoid further cost escalation, it is important that Metro get the final Purple Line extension project design and build underway now, without further delays. Moving forward now should mean the full Purple Line will be open in time for the 2028 Olympics.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

July 2024 Metro Board Meeting: Ridership Up, Security Measures, LAX, and More

LAX station will open this November. Metro will expand security measures, from TAP-to-Exit to turnstile hardening. Plus more Metro action!

July 25, 2024

Covina to Begin Construction on Recreation Village

The new facility will be next to the Metrolink station and include a variety of opportunities for fitness and amusement

July 25, 2024

Incomplete Streets Part 2: in OC Caltrans Ignores Caltrans Policy on Bike and Pedestrian Needs

Caltrans has a policy requiring Complete Streets in its projects, but Caltrans Districts routinely ignore it

July 24, 2024
See all posts