The nine-mile extension of the E Line light-rail from East Los Angeles to Whittier cleared a major milestone earlier this week, which will allow the project to begin construction later this year and move it up the ladder for receiving federal dollars to close a funding gap, said local officials.
A long-awaited approval of the project and its environmental impact report was given on Thursday, May 23, by the LA Metro board of directors. While the project eventually will have about $6 billion from Measure M funds, the half-cent LA County transportation tax, it needs about $7.5 billion for completion.
The next step will be to complete a federal, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental clearance process so that the second segment to a Lambert Road station in Whittier can be funded using money from the Federal Transit Administration. No FTA money has been committed so far.
The train line will run from the current terminus at Atlantic station in East Los Angeles to a Lambert station in the city of Whittier, going through the cities of Commerce, Montebello and Pico Rivera via Washington Boulevard. Two of the first three stations — at Atlantic/Whittier and Commerce/Citadel will be underground. A third at Greenwood in Montebello will be above ground at street level.
The next three stations in the second segment at Rosemead Boulevard, Norwalk Boulevard and at Lambert Road, with the terminus at the Presbyterian PIH Health Hospital of Whittier, will be at street level.
Besides regional heavy rail Metrolink and the nearby LA Metro C Line, the Eastside extension will be the only mass transit rail option within the dense eastern/southeast region of LA County, reported LA Metro.
The line is expected to serve commuters in one of the most highly traveled corridors in the state, including low-income and heavily transit-dependent communities. About 119,759 people who live within one-half mile of the stations of the full route identify as disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, and/or low-income households, LA Metro reported.
The area directly surrounding the route is home to 722,000 residents and is a job center for about 274,000 employees, LA Metro reported.
“This will be so impactful for an areas that often gets left behind,” said LA County Supervisor and LA Metro board member Hilda Solis at the Thursday board meeting. “It is monumental.”
The first, 4.6-mile segment of the project is expected to serve more than 11,000 average weekday boardings by the year 2042, LA Metro reported. This segment will reduce 8,000 vehicle miles traveled (VMT) daily, and it will cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming by about 8,429 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over the life of the project.
First construction phase of underground surveying and utility relocations may start as early as fall of this year, said Whittier City Councilman Fernando Dutra, an LA Metro board member. But completion is several years away. The second segment to Whittier is expected to be completed in 2035-2037, he said.
Dutra, who has been working on getting the project approved since 2008 and fought not to have the route go east to South El Monte, called the approval of the route, design and EIR “a start,” with full funding and construction to come. He said complicated rail projects with partial underground sections like this one take decades to plan, receive approvals from cities, and to build.
“It is a marathon,” he said.
Dutra went to a map on an easel during the board meeting to show how the project will sweep through different segments of the region, from commercial uses at The Citadel shopping center in Commerce, the Commerce Casino, to work centers consisting of warehouses, factories and office buildings in Montebello and Pico Rivera.
“This line does what it was meant to do, that is, connect communities,” he said.
He wants these cities and the county’s unincorporated areas to plan for higher density residential projects near the train stations, so people can get to work, stores, doctors’ appointments, classes and even gambling casinos by a low-cost, light-rail train, instead of using a single-passenger car on jammed freeways.
“If cities are smart they will work collaboratively to create clusters,” he said. “Maybe Pico Rivera can create higher density housing. Montebello and Commerce can encourage commercial and manufacturing.”
He hopes that once this extension is built, these residents will see a light-rail train as a safe and convenient way to get where they want to go. “If you get people out of their cars, it is a cultural shift toward public transportation,” Dutra said. “What a lost opportunity if they don’t take advantage of it.”
