The Foothill Gold Line light rail project is getting $798 million to help complete the final segment of two 3.2-mile stations that extend the system even further into San Bernardino County.
The approval of the funding agreement between the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority Board and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) earlier this month will allow the completion of the project between Pomona and Claremont, the last LA County city on the project line. San Bernardino County owns and pays for the final 0.38-mile-long, $80 million section located in the city of Montclair.
“Completing this project is essential to the future of this corridor and the region,” Ed Reece, Building Authority Board Chair and Claremont City Council member, said in a news release. “This project will expand mobility with reliable and sustainable traffic, reducing emissions and improving the quality of life for everyone. We sincerely appreciate Metro’s commitment to completing this number one priority project.”
Metro, which designated the Gold Line project as the agency’s number one priority for new state funding in 2023, will use a grant from the State of California Transit and Interurban Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) to pay for the your part of the work. The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) has committed $80 million in state and local funding for its part.
With funding in place, the Construction Authority is currently preparing to hire the design and construction team for the shovel-ready project. The authority hopes to award a contract in the spring of 2025 and begin work later in the summer.
Kiewit is currently the only contractor bidding on the final segment and is expected to be selected by the Gold Line Authority in January, when the bid comes in and a final budget is drawn up, says Gold Line spokesman Albert Ho .
“When the Building Authority began the procurement process to hire the designer-builder for the Pomona to Montclair project in March 2024, a concerted effort was made to reach out to as many potential bidders as possible,” says Ho. “Despite these efforts, in addition to offering substantial financial grants to teams that participated and did not win the contract, only Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. responded to the initial request for qualifications.”
The Pomona to Montclair extension will extend the streetcar 3.2 miles and include two new stations.
Courtesy map Metro Gold Line Extension Construction Authority
After Kiewit’s Statement of Qualifications was reviewed by the agency’s proposal review committees, the team was deemed qualified in all review categories and the Building Authority board approved moving the team from Kiewit design and construction in the proposal phase of the procurement process, says Ho.
For this phase of the project, Kiewit, together with its subcontractor Parsons, will be responsible for the relocation of the freight tracks and Metrolink, the installation of the light rail system (track power and train control) building the Gold Line stations, the relocation of the Claremont. Metrolink station, reconstruction of a level crossing and construction of new bridges.
This final stage of the project is estimated to take five years to complete and should open to riders sometime in 2030.
Crews are currently working on the 9.1 mile long Glendora to Pomona section. It is a $1.5 billion four-station segment led by Kiewit-Parsons, a joint venture (KPJV). Major construction began in July 2020 and is currently more than 92 percent complete, and on budget and on schedule for a substantial completion date of January 3, 2025, at which time the project will be handed over to Metro for the training and pre-revenue operations.
The final Pomona to Montclair segment will complete the 25-station Foothill Gold Line system from Union Station in downtown LA to Montclair. The Gold Line Authority completed the first segment from Union Station to Pasadena in 2003 and the segment from Pasadena to Azusa in 2015. Once handed over to LA Metro, the project will become part of the subway’s A Line. A future trip from Montclair to Pasadena should take just over 40 minutes, and a trip from Los Angeles to Montclair would be about 75 minutes.
