Big Metro news yesterday as L.A.’s multimodal future took one big step forward, and one big step backward.
Sepulveda Heavy Rail Approved
The Metro board unanimously approved plans [staff report] for a new heavy rail mega-project connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Westside.
Metro’s Sepulveda Transit Corridor project had considered an inferior low-ridership monorail alternative. Today’s decision kills the monorail.
An hour’s worth of public comment – including from labor, business, UCLA, transit advocates – unanimously supported the staff-recommended heavy rail design.
The board approved Sepulveda’s “locally preferred alternative” (LPA) as an initial segment running automated heavy rail ~9 miles from Van Nuys G Line Station (Van Nuys Boulevard south of Victory Boulevard) to Metro D Line Westwood Station (Wilshire Boulevard just west of Westwood Boulevard). Subsequent phases will extend north to the Van Nuys Metrolink Station, and south to the E Line, and ultimately to LAX.
There are some issues to work out, including securing additional funding. Metro has partial local funding, but a ~$15+ billion rail project will almost certainly need federal funding. But overall, the approval represents a victory for high-quality high-ridership transit.
The next step is Metro preparing and approving the project’s environmental studies, which will include further refining the design.
Infeasible Torrance Light Rail Alternative Advanced
A relatively suburban planned South Bay light rail extension did not fare as well. For the 4-mile Torrance C Line Extension project, the Metro board overrode its earlier approval and rejected a staff recommendation [staff report] for approving final project specifics. The board instead approved a motion that shifts the project from a mostly at-grade existing rail right-of-way (“the ROW”) to more expensive elevated rail in middle of nearby Hawthorne Boulevard.
Metro expects the ROW alternative to cost $2.7 billion, compared to $3.4 billion for the Hawthorne Boulevard.
Hawthorne has additional drawbacks – and some minor benefits – see SBLA coverage from earlier this week for an extended comparison.
Torrance extension public comment was split, with a majority of comments in support of Hawthorne Blvd. Opposition to the ROW alignment was mostly couched in pro-transit rhetoric, along the lines of “I support transit, but not where it would run next to homes.”
Boardmembers supporting Hawthorne Boulevard expressed optimism that “short term challenges” could be overcome, for “longer term benefits.”
At a minimum, today’s rejection means at least 2-3 years’ worth of delays just to approve a final plan – for a project Metro had sold to voters as breaking ground in 2026. With an exceedingly difficult and costly alignment, and so much opposition (and today’s vote empowering anti-rail voices), it appears more likely that this extension will never be built.
Miscellaneous Additional Approvals
More from today’s meeting [agenda]:
- To continue widening the 105 Freeway, the Metro board approved borrowing up to $1.7 billion from future toll revenues [staff report]. See earlier SBLA coverage of Metro 105 Freeway expansion: 2024 explainer and 2025 groundbreaking for initial segment.
- The Metro board approved $53 million for design/engineering work to widen the 605 Freeway [staff report].
- With two boardmembers (Supervisors Janice Hahn and Lindsey Horvath) voting no, Metro approved a legislative position [staff report] against more housing being built near high quality transit. It’s complicated, but this essentially puts Metro in formal opposition to recently approved state law (SB79) applying to L.A. County. For more on Metro vs. SB79, see @lintonjoe Bluesky, Mar Vista Voice, or LAist.
- Metro approved $95 million for extending the A Line to Claremont [staff report].
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