K Line – Crenshaw/LAX Line

Metro expects to see the preliminary (30 percent) design completed shortly and to hire a design/build construction contractor to finish the plans and break ground by mid-2018. The project would be completed in late 2019, around the time that the Crenshaw/LAX Line would be opening.

Metro celebrated the retirement of Harriet the Tunnel Boring Machine, which built two mile-long tunnels below Crenshaw Boulevard. Metro's Crenshaw/LAX light rail line is expected to open in Fall 2019.

As anyone who reads Streetsblog or The Source or who follows the pace of rail expansion in Los Angeles knows, today is the "retirement party" for Harriet, the tunnel boring machine that has been drilling about a mile of tunnel for the Crenshaw Line.

Metro is deciding several rail construction issues: budget increases for Crenshaw/LAX and Regional Connector, contract for Purple Line Extension phase 2, and possible future Arts District service.

See the Metro Crenshaw/LAX light rail line under construction from the Metro Green Line. Crenshaw opens in 2019.

Launched in 2014, the 20/20 Vision Initiative was born out of the desire of area stakeholders to harness both the change and the opportunities expected to accompany the 2020 opening of the Crenshaw/LAX Line and the new Leimert Park station.

In a year that has been mostly terrible from start to finish, it is nice to end on a positive note with happy drawings of how a blighted corridor might be transformed in a deserving neighborhood.

Spoiler alert: of the four options Metro is considering, the Randolph Street option (B4) has ranked the highest. Not only would it help connect residents to more schools and other important community destinations, it would be able to provide residents with the safest way to reach those destinations. Best of all, it would add over four miles to the bike/pedestrian path and connect users to the river and the existing bike path there.

This week, the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) announced the recipients of its Transit and Intercity Capital Program (TIRCP) grants. TIRCP distributes state cap-and-trade funding to local transit agencies for projects that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In greater Los Angeles, funds were awarded to Metro, Foothill Transit, Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency, Antelope Valley Transit Authortity (AVTA), and Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). A detailed project list follows.