L.A. Subway Construction Timeline is "Unacceptable"

It will take more than two decades to expand Los Angeles' Subway to the Sea by 10 miles, according to an MTA timeline. The mayor's office and transit activists are pushing for it to get done more quickly.

1 minute read

January 8, 2009, 11:00 AM PST

By Judy Chang


"The proposed rail line doesn't figure to pass engineering and environmental muster until 2013, just in time to see its biggest booster, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, leave office if elected to a second term. And it won't even reach Westwood until 2032, at which point Villaraigosa would be 78.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the mayor said that was unacceptable and noted that Measure R 'allows us to seek federal support and advance the timeline.

'We have for the first time an administration in Washington that intends to invest in public transportation,' said Villaraigosa press secretary Matt Szabo. 'When the mayor was running for office, the Subway to the Sea was mocked as a pipe dream. Now the question is not if it's going to be built, but when it's completed.'"

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 in Los Angeles Times

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