The “Gold Line” Will Be the “Blue Line”

The “Gold Line” will eventually be renamed the “Blue Line” (Photo – Salaam Allah).

The Gold Line and the Blue Line brought San Gabriel Valley residents relief from driving in traffic and provided connectivity to the rest of Los Angeles County but failed the original purpose of providing the connection for continuous transit on the Blue Line.

By Marc Corti

The regions served by the Blue and Expo Lines and the Gold Line are disconnected because there is not common station for direct transfer.  As a result, riding the LA Metro rail network from the San Gabriel Valley and East LA to the Westside and Long Beach requires public transit aptitude, patience and 20-30 minutes of extra time. This disconnect is exactly what the Metro Regional Connector Transit Project (the MRCT Project) is designed to solve.

The Original Plan

The Blue Line originally was planned as a continuous line from downtown LA north to Pasadena, but a spur of the Blue Line never was completed and the Gold Line between Pasadena and East LA was constructed.as an independent line.  The gap in the network between the Gold Line and the Blue Line has forced rail patrons to transfer to the Metro Red or Purple Lines to connect between the Gold Line and the Blue Line.  The MRTC Project will complete the connection.

Project Description

The MRTC Project is a 1.9-mile-long subway which will link the Gold Line from Little Tokyo to the current Blue Line and Expo Line terminus at 7^th and Flower Streets in downtown Los Angeles. The MRTC Project includes the construction of two new subway stations downtown (2^nd Street at Broadway and 2^nd Street at Hope Street). The current at-grade station in Little Tokyo will be moved to a new underground station on the southwest corner of 1^st and Alameda Streets. These new stations will add direct links to Broadway and Bunker Hill–two main areas of downtown Los Angeles not currently served by rail.

QUICK FACTS

Status: Active Construction
Revenue Service: 2021
Location: Downtown Los Angeles
Miles of Track: 1.9
Project Cost: $1.76 billion
Lines Affected: Blue, Expo and Gold

What does the MRTC Project mean for San Gabriel Valley residents?

When revenue service begins (sometime in 2021), the MRTC Project will provide one-seat rides (no transfers) from Azusa/Pasadena all the way through downtown Los Angeles (including Civic Center, Bunker Hill and the Financial District) and on to downtown Long Beach. The MRTC Project also will reduce the number of transfers currently required to get to Santa Monica (including USC and Culver City) from two to one, reducing the overall commute by 10-15 minutes.

The MRTC Project will make it easier for those living in the Westside or Long Beach to visit the events, businesses, schools and outdoor spaces in Pasadena and the greater San Gabriel Valley, while making it easier for San Gabriel Valley residents to reach the rest of LA County.

A draft concept map showing the Blue Line extending to APU-Citrus College (Photo – metro.net).

From “Gold” to “Blue”

For those of us who have grown accustomed to and fond of riding the Gold Line through the San Gabriel Valley to downtown, we will soon have to retrain our minds because our “Gold Line” will be renamed “Blue Line.” This name change brings to conclusion four decades of work to realize the original vision of a continuous link between Long Beach, Downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena. With rail already servicing Azusa (and eventually Claremont or Montclair), the new Blue Line will be one of the longest continuous light rail lines in the country.

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