Line: Gold Line Expansion Project Coming This Summer?
Gold Line Expansion Project Coming in Summer?
Updated: Saturday, 30 Jan 2010, 7:32 PM PST
Published : Saturday, 30 Jan 2010, 7:31 PM PST
Posted by: Scott Coppersmith / myFOXla.com
An extension of light rail passenger train service along the Foothill (210) Freeway, once a mere dream for San Gabriel Valley communities, may see dirt moved and concrete poured starting this summer, it was reported today.
A June ground-breaking date appears to be on target for the Gold Line Foothill Extension, which will extend the northern branch of the Gold Line east from Pasadena to the Azusa/Glendora line.
Although the project may eventually see Gold Line passenger trains zipping from Los Angeles and Pasadena as far east as Ontario International Airport, funding is uncertain and the Foothill Extension Construction Authority and county Metropolitan Transportation Authority are still not exactly in accord, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.
The MTA was viewed as a major obstacle to the Foothill extension. Ara Najarian, a Glendale councilman and chairman of the MTA's board, told the newspaper that the MTA's new boss --Art Leahy -- changed the attitudes of MTA officials toward the Gold Line.
"When we bought in our new CEO, I made it clear that we wanted a new attitude in the agency, where everybody isn't fighting each other for their own area's project," Najarian told the Tribune. "I think, under him, the agency has responded."
The construction authority will likely receive its full Measure R allotment of $851 million for the project over 11 years, Habib Balian, the construction authority's CEO, told the Tribune.
Officials hope to find a hungry construction company with enough cash reserves to build the tracks, with the authority paying back the money as its Measure R sales tax funds trickle in.
The first phase will include construction of a landmark bridge to take tracks from the center median of the 210 Freeway into Arcadia. From there, the light-rail tracks will follow old Santa Fe Railway right of way east through Monrovia and Azusa to Glendora.
Right of way exists to take the Gold Line through San Dimas, Laverne, Claremont and Pomona to the Ontario Airport, although funding is not assured for the eastern leg from San Bernardino County.
The Gold Line extends east from Los Angeles Union Station on two branches, and the June groundbreaking is scheduled for the northern branch. The southern branch currently ends in East Los Angeles, and officials hop to extend it either east along the Pomona (60) Freeway or southeast into Whittier.
Plans are also being drawn up to connect the two Gold Line branches across the Civic Center of Los Angeles via a "regional connector." That rail link would extend the Blue and Expo line tracks from the west side of downtown via a new tunnel under Figueroa Street and Bunker Hill.
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