COST: Projected $3.5 billion
CONSTRUCTION START: Early 2015
PROJECTED OPENING: First quarter 2026
CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTOR TEAM: Skanska (Stockholm, Sweden), Traylor Bros. (Evansville, Indiana), JF Shea Construction (Walnut).
It’s taken more than a decade, but the first 3.9-mile segment of the Metro D Line (formerly Purple Line) Extension from the current D Line terminus at Wilshire Boulevard/Western Avenue to Wilshire/La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills is now 98% complete on its way to an expected opening sometime in the first quarter of next year.
The remaining segments of the 9-mile D Line Extension – first to Century City and then to the Westwood area – are expected to open for operation in 2027.
The entire project is being overseen by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or L.A. Metro.
The first segment of the extension consists of two bored tunnels and three new stations: Wilshire/La Brea Avenue, Wilshire/Fairfax Avenue (near the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and Wilshire/La Cienega.
The main tasks awaiting before the extension can open are restoration work on Wilshire, finishing touches on station plazas, and electrical system and train testing.
The construction contractor team is comprised of Stockholm, Sweden-based Skanska, Evansville, Indiana-based Traylor Bros. Inc. and Walnut-based JF Shea Construction Inc. Funding for this segment has come from state and federal grants as well as Measure R, a countywide sales tax passed in 2008.
Major construction work is nearing completion on the remaining two segments. The construction contractor team for both of those segments is comprised of Sylmar-based Tutor Perini Corp. and Torrington, Connecticut-based O&G Industries Inc.
Segment 2 is now projected to cost about $2.9 billion and will run nearly 2.6 miles from the Wilshire/La Cienega station to Century City. It will have two stations: one at Wilshire/Beverly Drive at the foot of Beverly Hills’ Golden Triangle shopping/dining district and the other at Avenue of the Stars/Constellation Boulevard in the heart of Century City.
According to a Metro construction update report issued last month, Segment 2 construction is about 83% complete; and the segment is now projected to open in the second quarter of 2027.
Segment 3 is projected to cost nearly $3.3 billion and will run more than 2.5 miles from Century City to the Westwood area.
It will have two new stations – one at Wilshire/Westwood Boulevard that is intended to serve both Westwood Village and the UCLA campus and the final station of the overall extension project near the Veterans Administration campus just west of the 405 Freeway.
According to the October Metro construction update, construction work on Segment 3 is about 73% complete, and it’s currently projected to open in the fourth quarter of 2027.
Funding for both Segments 2 and 3 comes from several sources, including county sales tax measures R and M (passed in 2016).
The total construction cost for the entire 9-mile extension project now stands at about $9.7 billion, though it’s possible that by the time the entire line is operational, the construction cost will top $10 billion.
