Dozens of participants in an online town hall Wednesday were largely enthusiastic about LA Metro’s plans for the 14.8-mile-long, southern segment of a proposed light-rail system that would go from Artesia to the existing A Line Slauson Station.
The $8.5 billion project — a first-of-its-kind transit project serving lower income communities in southeast Los Angeles County — has been in the planning stage for two decades. Metro estimates it will take 10 years to build, starting in 2025 and opening in 2035.
Metro has been holding public workshops about the southern segment of the project, dubbed the West Santa Ana Branch light-rail project. The “West Santa Ana Branch” name, which the Metro board says is confusing, stems from an old right-of-way once used for the now-defunct Pacific Electric Santa Ana route in L.A. County.
But the new segment will not reach Orange County — or go anywhere near Santa Ana.
“The project doesn’t connect to Orange County. We will work with the community to rename this project,” said Meghna Khanna, senior director of mobility, corridors, countywide planning and development for LA Metro, who led the Wednesday meeting.
Khanna asked participants to submit suggestions for a new name, presumably one that doesn’t refer to a city in Orange County. “We want to have a new name in front of the board sometime in January 2024,” she said during the meeting.
The project name misnomer didn’t stop curious residents from asking if one day, the line could go to Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park and Disneyland in Anaheim. That is not in the plans for this project since LA Metro uses sales tax revenues generated in L.A. County to build rail lines. Any extension to Orange County would need approval, and funding, from the Orange County Transit Authority, according to Metro.
The virtual town hall focused on numerous changes to the original plan adopted by the Metro board in January 2022, mostly affecting street closures, overpasses and parking structures.
Ultimately, the project would stretch 19.3-miles and include a second segment from the Slauson A Line Station to Los Angeles Union Station, the northern terminus. It would connect Artesia, Cerritos, Bellflower, Paramount, Downey, South Gate, Cudahy, Bell, Huntington Park, Vernon, unincorporated Florence-Firestone and downtown Los Angeles. A separate study is needed to plan the route from the A Line Station into downtown Los Angeles, Khanna said.
About 12.1 miles of the southern section would be at-grade track and 2.4 miles would be aerial. The section would have nine stations and five park-and-ride facilities. A new C (Green) Line station would be built in the middle of the 105 Freeway.
The line would cross three rivers: Los Angeles, Rio Hondo and San Gabriel, and would need crossings for the train to go either over or under the 91, 605, 105 and the 710 freeways. A maintenance and storage facility would be located in Bellflower.
LA Metro anticipates completing a Final Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report by spring 2024. Approval of the state-mandated EIR document by the Metro board is expected by spring of 2024, followed by the federally-mandated EIS by fall 2024, Metro reported.
Caller Moses Huerta was asked if sound walls and additional privacy screens atop the walls would be enough to tamp down the sound of the electric light-rail trolley as it passed by residential areas. Metro experts said the sound walls are built to dampen sound and showed pictures of them along the L (Gold) Line tracks.
Daniela Amores asked for details about the Paramount High School pedestrian bridge. Khanna said plans are to demolish the existing pedestrian bridge and replace it with a new bridge. But she said it will be only for school use.
An in-person meeting is planned for Thursday, June 15 at 6 p.m. at the Albert O. Little Community Center, 18750 Clarkdale Ave., Artesia. For more information about the project, visit: metro.net/wsab.