Regional Connector

Metro rail map of downtown Los Angeles with possible routing of Regional Connector (in dashed blue line)

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority Regional Connector project (also referred to as the Downtown Connector or Downtown Light-Rail Connector) is a proposed mass-transit rail project in Downtown Los Angeles, connecting the Blue and Expo Lines to the Gold and Eastside Lines and the Union Station.

Alignment

This connector would begin at the 7th Street/Metro Center station, which is currently the northern terminus of the Blue Line and future terminus of the Expo Line and connect to the under constructionEastside Line near on Alameda at either; Aliso, Temple or 1st Streets. The operational intent is to allow through running of service between the four corridors (Blue, Gold, Expo and Eastside Extensions). The project is still at very preliminary stages of planning and thus no alignment has yet been determined, but a number of alignments have been informally studied and proposed. The connector was envisioned as far back as 1984 when planning and building the Long Beach Blue Line and restudied with a through connection in the Pasadena Light Rail Corridor studies in 1990.

History

The connector was formally studied for the first time as a stand alone project in a Major Investment Study in 1992–1993, in preparation of its Long Range Transportation Plan. LACMTA envisioned the Blue Line running through downtown to Union Station and onward to Pasadena with potential future lines (Burbank/Glendale to the northwest and Exposition Park/Santa Monica to the south and west). The connector was not completed due to lack of funds and realignment of the Red Line Eastside Extension which later became an extension of the Pasadena Gold Line.

The project was most recently revived in 2004, when LACMTA staff initiated a technical feasibility assessment for a potential regional connector. This study focused on conceptual methods to provide a regional connector and to alleviate potential operational constraints.

The 2004 staff study looked at the potential alignments of the Downtown Connector that could not be done entirely underground due to funding constraints due from the voter approved 1998 Prop A ban on local county subway funding. Most of the alignments contained a partial underground alignment along Flower Street, surfacing somewhere between 5th Street and 3rd Street and then proceeding east to Alameda Street, where it would join the tracks of the Eastside Line, which continue northward to Union Station or eastward to Boyle Heights. There were conceptual stations at the following locations:

• Central Library.
• Bunker Hill.
• Los Angeles City Hall.
• Little Tokyo.

LACMTA staff analyzed a number of at-grade, street running couplets, transit mall, elevated and hybrid subway/at-grade/elevated alignments along various east-west streets such as; Temple Street, First Street, Second Street and Third Street and utilizing available grade-separated infrastructure such as the Second Street Tunnel through Bunker Hill (between Hill and Figueroa Streets) or the Third Street Tunnel (between Hill and Flower Streets) to minimize costs, improve operating times and improve the feasibility of constructing the project.

Current State

In July 2006, the LACMTA Board voted to approve funding and staff to initiate a Major Investment Study (MIS) for the Regional Connector in conjunction with approval of a similar study for the extension of the Red Line subway. In June 2007, the LACMTA Board approved the consultants to perform the Alternative Analysis and MIS. On November 6th and 7th of 2007 preliminary outreach meetings for the Alternative Analysis occured at the Central Library on the 6th and the Japanese American National Museum on November 7th. The results from these outreach meetings should occur in February or March.

The Transit Coalition has prepared presentations and advocacy materials in favor of the Regional Connector.

References

• Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority [1]
• City of Los Angeles Office of the Mayor [2]