Federal, state, and local Los Angeles officials – along with a Hollywood personality – gathered Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014 to mark the construction launch of the Regional Connector, a 1.9-mile underground tunnel designed to unite LA's light rail transit lines.
The project is targeted for completion in 2020, which will allow the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) to run through trains on numerous LRT routes, also improving access to Los Angeles Union Station, undergoing rehabilitation during its 75th-year anniversary.
The Regional Connection also has been designed with rail route expansions in mind, including addition of the 8.5-mile Crenshaw Line, Phase 2 of the Purple Line Subway extension, and 11.5-miles of additional Gold Line (Foothill Extension) to Azusa/Glendora, Calif.
Local funding for the project comes from Measure R, the half-cent sales tax increase approved by Los Angeles County voters in November 2008, despite strong headwinds from the Great Recession.
Among those attending the event were U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, U.S. House Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), U.S. House Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Calif.), LACMTA CEO Art Leahy, and actor and activist George Takei.
Last April LACMTA awarded Regional Connector Constructors, a joint venture of Skanska USA Civil West California District Inc., Traylor Brothers Inc., with Kiewit and Hatch Mott MacDonald, a $927.2 million contract to design and build the Regional Connector.