Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti broke ground on a 2.5-mile extension of the Purple Line of the subway on Monday.
The line, which runs from Century City to Westwood, will ease congestion and improve access to the Westside from Downtown Los Angeles.
“The Purple Line Expansion is the key that will unlock our transportation future and burst open doors of opportunity on the Westside — and today’s groundbreaking moves us one step closer to completely redefining our city’s relationship with public transit,” said Mayor Garcetti, who also serves as Metro Board Chair. “We promised Angelenos a world-class transit system when we passed Measure M, and this milestone is a clear indication of our commitment to make Los Angeles a more accessible, sustainable, and inclusive city.”
The Metro Purple Line Extension Project is part of a larger three-phase, 8.9-mile seven-station project that will extend the line from its current terminus at Wilshire/Western to the Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Medical Center (VA) off the 405 Freeway. The extension is expected to be complete in 2027. The section Garcetti broke ground on will connect the final station of the Purple Line Section 2 in Century City and include one station at Westwood Village and another at the VA.
All three sections are currently being built. The first section between Wilshire/Western and Beverly Hills is almost 70 percent complete and is expected to be opened in 2024. The second section is nearly 45 percent complete and expected to be opened in 2025.
Section 3 is budged to cost $3.6 billion. Metro will apply for a $1.3 billion federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation through a Full Funding Grant Agreement with the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grant program. More than $2 billion for the project will come from the half-cent sales tax increases approved by voters in 2008 and 2016.
Before the pandemic, over 300,000 workers traveled into the Westside every morning. The Purple Line Extension is projected to carry about 49,300 daily weekday boardings at the seven new stations upon completion. Metro said they anticipate roughly 78,000 new daily trips as a result of opening the line.