Dive Brief:
- The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will open a 3.92-mile extension of its D Line subway on May 8.
- The route, which starts at Los Angeles Union Station in downtown LA, will add three stations and end at La Cienega Boulevard. Total travel time between the two stations is estimated at 21 minutes for the 9 mile trip.
- Two additional extensions are expected to open in 2027, to Beverly Hills; Century City; the University of California, Los Angeles and the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.
Diving knowledge:
The D line extension is one of LA Metro’s projects scheduled for completion in 2028, in time for Los Angeles to host the Olympics and Paralympics. The soon-to-be-opened extension will reach “museum row,” home to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Academy Film Museum, the Petersen Automotive Museum and the La Brea Tar Pits.
The transit agency estimates there will be 16,200 weekday boardings when the new section opens, according to an LA Metro spokesperson. The project has a budget of $3.7 billion and is funded by a local sales tax, federal grants and a $749.3 million Transportation Infrastructure Innovation and Financing Act loan administered by the US Department of Transportation.
The three-section tunnel was completed two years ago. The most difficult stretch was in the Brea area, where the ice age mammoths and sloths were trapped in the melted asphalt. Crews encountered tar sands, fossils and archaeological artifacts, said Tim Lindholm, director of program management for LA Metro. “From an underground construction perspective, it was an extremely challenging project,” he said.
LA Metro contractors used a 400-foot-long, 21-foot-diameter TBM to excavate 40 to 60 feet per day. As the machines advanced, they lined the tunnel with precast concrete segments bolted together to form secure rings, avoiding water and gas-related risks.
The box-shaped excavations prepared the sites for the construction of the subway stations, which were then covered, Lindhom explained. All station boxes in the remaining extensions have been excavated, he said.
Public art adorns each of the new stations on the LA Metro D line.
Courtesy of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Trains are already running on the section that will open next month, Lindholm said, “mimicking the daily schedule” without passengers. Testing has been completed and train and rail operators have completed training. “It’s a very, very exciting time,” he said.
Each of the new stations includes public art. “We have a very thriving arts community here,” Lindholm said.
LA Metro recently announced that it would build a 14-mile automated subway line in the Sepúlveda corridor. The transit agency also plans to extend the K Line south from Redondo Beach to the Torrance Transit Center and north to Hollywood.
