Planned L.A. Crenshaw Line Rollout Prompts Argument

Already delayed, the Crenshaw Line has now sparked debate between stakeholders who favor opposing visions of how the light rail service should link up with the existing Green Line.

December 2, 2018, 9am PST | Philip Rojc | @PhilipRojc

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Now expected to open in the summer of 2020, L.A.'s Crenshaw Line is set to intersect with the Green Line, which runs primarily east-west along the 105 Freeway. But a section of the Green Line also runs past LAX and south to Redondo Beach, and elected representatives for that area are concerned about Metro's favored option for managing the connection.

That plan, Laura J. Nelson writes, "would break the Green Line into two pieces at Aviation Boulevard. Riders along the portion of the line that runs along the 105 would be able to board a train every six minutes during peak periods and ride west and north to the Expo Line without transferring. But riders going to or coming from the South Bay's four Green Line stations, the portion of the line with the lowest ridership, would lose their one-seat ride."

Those riders, who account for only 12 percent of the Green Line's ridership, would be forced to "transfer from the Green Line to the Green Line," as Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn put it. Her district includes Redondo Beach.

But an alternative plan to preserve South Bay riders' one-seat trip would essentially oblige the new Crenshaw Line to run two-car trains, even though it could handle three-car ones, due to the older Green Line's electrical limitations. Metro's directors will decide the issue at a board meeting on December 6. Ultimately, a planned extension of the Green Line to Torrance in the mid-2020s will change the math here once again.

Full Story:

Westside and South Bay clash over how to connect two rail lines

Published on Saturday, November 24, 2018 in The Los Angeles Times