Drilling begins today in study of Westside subway proposal

Workers will be drilling into the earth and collecting soil samples beginning today as part of a study of the proposed subway to the Westside.

Soil samples will be collected today at Wilshire Boulevard and Stanley Drive today in Beverly Hills and later this week in Hollywood, Century City and the Miracle Mile. According to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the drilling is designed to  "assess conditions below the ground" for the Westside subway extension's environmental impact report.

L.A. transit officials for decades dreamed of building the "Subway to the Sea," a project that would connect L.A.'s rail transit system to the Westside. The original plan was for the subway to run down Wilshire Boulevard, but there are now several alternative routes.

It remains unclear whether officials can afford to build the project. The MTA is now in the process of building the Expo Line into the Westside, a light rail line that would go from downtown L.A. to Culver City and eventually to Santa Monica.

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[Dan W.]

This blog post is missing some important details.

There are not "several" alternative routes any more. There process has winnowed it down to two basic alignments:

Alternative 1 extends the Purple Line down Wilshire to Santa Monica with a spur into Century City.

Alternative 11 contains the Wilshire extension plus a a connection to the Red Line at Hollywood/Highland via Santa Monica Blvd. and the Beverly Center area.

Both alternatives have gone to EIS/EIR review.

Phase 1 - extend Purple Line to Fairfax/Wiilshre
Phase 2 - extend Purple Line to Century City
Phase 3 - extend Purple Line to Westwood
Phase 4 - connect Purple Line to Hollywood via Santa Monica Blvd.
Phase 5 - extend Purple Line to Santa Monica.

Also, it is clear that Measure R contains enough designated funding for the first three phases to extend the Purple Line as far Westwood.

For the latest on this project, see the main Metro website at http://www.metro.net/projects_studies/westside/default.htm