Major construction on an expansion of the LA Metro A Line is now completed on time and on budget, expanding the world’s longest light rail system from Glendora to Pomona.
The Foothill Gold Line extension, the $1.5 billion, 9.1-mile expansion project, includes four new stations and extends the line—formerly known as the Gold Line—into new areas of Los Angeles County.
The project, which began construction in July 2020, adds new stations in Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne and Pomona. It also includes the construction of 19 bridges, 21 street crossings, new parking facilities and more than 10 miles of sound walls — more than 548,000 recycled tires were used to mitigate noise near the rail corridor.
The line’s expansion was funded primarily by L.A. County’s Measure M half-cent sales tax, along with state grants and Measure R funds.
“Substantial completion,” a major project milestone, means all significant construction and system installations are finished, allowing the project to enter final testing, operator training and safety preparations before opening to the public.
The construction team will now hand the project over to LA Metro, which will conduct its own set of testing and pre-revenue operations before obtaining final approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.
Once completed, the full extension will be opened to the public later this year.
The project was overseen by the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority and construction was completed by Kiewit-Parsons over the span of five years.
Habib F. Balian, CEO of the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority, said it was unusual for an infrastructure project of this magnitude to come in both on time and on budget, especially when having to account for unprecedented challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, record rainfall and historic heatwaves.
“The Kiewit-Parsons team did an outstanding job designing and constructing the light rail project, despite significant and unprecedented challenges,” Balian said. “We are proud to be the first light rail project funded by Measure M to have broken ground and to now be completed, and we look forward to handing the project over to Metro as they prepare to put the extension on-line later this year.”
Already the world’s largest light-rail line at over 48 miles, the completion of the Foothill Gold Line extension will bring the A Line to over 57 miles.
But Metro isn’t done there.
An additional 3.2-mile segment to Montclair is expected to break ground later this year, extending the line even farther into the Inland Empire. This represents the final stage of the extension project.
For more information about the Foothill Gold Line extension, click here.
