On Thursday, November 16, Metro held its bi-monthly construction community meeting, to update neighbors on the progress of the Purple Line Subway Extension project.
Presentation materials from the meeting are now available at https://media.metro.net/projects_studies/westside/images/presentation_purpleline_2017-1116.pdf
According to the presentation, work is proceeding on schedule at each of the four local project areas – the Wilshire/Western connector, and the new stations at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega.
At Wilshire and Western, Metro is currently in the midst of a 14-week series of full weekend closures of Wilshire Blvd., between Western and Manhattan Place, which began in October and will end in February, while piling work for the new connector tunnel takes place. The closures begin every Friday (except for holiday weekends) at 8 p.m., and end on Monday at 6 a.m. The area along Wilshire from Crenshaw to Manhattan Pl. is open only to local traffic during those hours, while through traffic is detoured along Western and/or Crenshaw to Olympic Blvd.
Starting in February, more full closures of that part of Wilshire will be required, to install street-level concrete decking (as has been done at both the Wilshire/La Brea and Wilshire/Fairfax station areas)…and Metro is considering two options – either a nine-consecutive-day, 24/7 closure of the street from February 16 to February 26…or continuing the weekend-only closure pattern for another eight weeks, from February 16 through April 1.
Meanwhile, at the La Brea station area, excavation for the new station is now 96% complete, and the new tunnel boring machines are on their way from Germany. When installed in March, the TBMs will begin tunneling from La Brea to Western at a rate of about 4 inches per minute. (Also, FYI, the TBMs have their own Twitter feed, tracking the machines’ progress to their new home.) During the current preparation work for tunneling, Metro will continue to access the underground La Brea station area through a large semi-permanent opening at Wilshire and Sycamore, and through other removable panels, as needed, along that section of Wilshire.
At the Fairfax station area, crews are currently about half way through their excavation work. And at the La Cienega station area, they are about half way through a schedule of 17 full weekend closures to install surface-level decking at that intersection.
For more information about current Purple Line Subway Extension construction, you can see the full presentation at the link above, or call Metro’s Purple Line 24/7 Project Hotline at (213) 922-6934. The next community construction update meeting will be held on Thursday, January 18, at 6 p.m. at the Petersen Automotive Museum.
