LA Metro Hosts Ground Breaking for Purple Line Section 2

By TBM News February 26, 2018

Metro joined local, state and federal officials Feb. 23 to break ground on Section 2 of the Metro Purple Line Extension Project that will add 2.6-miles of new subway service to downtown Beverly Hills and Century City.

Metro has begun moving underground water, gas, power and telecommunications lines to make way for future subway construction. The agency is also conducting potholing, geotechnical tests, traffic surveys and other preparatory work.

Major construction is slated to begin this spring when work crews create a launch area for a tunnel boring machine at the planned Century City/Constellation Station. Major work at the planned Wilshire/Rodeo Station in Beverly Hills is expected to begin at the end of this year or early 2019.

Metro has already begun construction of the first four-mile section of subway between Wilshire/Western in Koreatown and Wilshire/La Cienega in Beverly Hills. This initial section is now 30 percent complete and is scheduled to open in 2023. Section 2 is scheduled for completion in 2025 and the third and final section from Century City to Westwood/VA Hospital is planned to open in 2026, two years prior to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Purple Line Extension is projected to generate about 49,300 daily weekday boardings at its seven new stations. There will be about 78,000 new daily trips on the full Metro Rail System as a result of opening the line. Trains are expected to run every four minutes during peak periods and every 10 minutes during off-peak times. It is projected to take about 25 minutes to travel between downtown Los Angeles and Westwood on the subway.

The entire Purple Line Extension project is expected to receive $3.6 billion in federal grants. Metro has established a $2.53-billion budget for Section 2, including $1.5 billion from a federal grant and loan. County sales tax proceeds from 2008’s Measure R and 2016’s Measure M voter-approved transportation measures are providing critically needed local funding to match the federal contributions and accelerate construction work.

The contractor to build Section 2 has already been selected. Metro awarded a $1.37-billion construction contract to Tutor Perini O&G, a joint venture, to build the second subway section.