Crenshaw Corridor (Los Angeles Metro)

Crenshaw Corridor
The Crenshaw Corridor and regional setting. Dashed lines represent possible alignments and future extensions.
Overview
Type	light-rail (LRT)
System	Los Angeles County Metro Rail
Status	in environmental review
Locale	Los Angeles
Termini	Crenshaw/Exposition Imperial/Aviation
Operation
Opened	2016 to 2018 (expected)
Operator(s)	Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)

The Crenshaw Corridor (formally, the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor Project) is a mass-transit project to construct a new light-rail corridor through southwest Los Angeles. The corridor will run generally north-south and will connect the Crenshaw District and Leimert Park to Inglewood and LAX. The corridor will be a part of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail System.

When completed, the Crenshaw corridor will be served by the Metro Crenshaw Line, which will run from the Jefferson Park in the north to Redondo Beach in the south. Also, the Metro Green Line will use a portion of the corridor near LAX for its northern extension.

The project is being planned by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). The project has been given high priority by Metro in its long-range plan,^[1] and has funding set aside in Measure R.^[2]

The Final EIR was certified on 22 September 2011.^[3] Metro hopes to begin construction of this line in 2012 with initial revenue service beginning between 2016 and 2018.^[4]

Background

The Crenshaw Corridor (originally the Crenshaw/Prairie Corridor) was conceived following the Los Angeles riots of 1992, as a way to better serve transit-dependent residents in the corridor, while at the same time providing stimulus for positive economic growth in South Los Angeles. The corridor was championed by California State Senator Diane Watson and County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, both representing portions of the corridor.

In 1993-94, a Major Investment Study (MIS) was initiated.^[4] An architectural design and planning visioning was performed by the USC school of Architecture in 1996. A route refinement study followed in 1999-2000 to improve the shelf life of the Crenshaw-Prairie Corridor and to narrow down the number of alternatives.

A new Major Investment Study (MIS) was completed in 2003. From 2007 through 2009, Metro conducted a draft environmental review of the corridor, taking public input and analyzing the environmental impacts and benefits of various alternatives. In December 2009, the Metro Board approved the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) ^[5] and chose a "Locally Preferred Alternative" (LPA).^[6]

This alternative, which includes the preferred mode and route, is now the subject of a final environmental study, resulting in a Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR). This final study is expected to be completed in May 2011.^[7]

Local community leaders, neighborhood councils, current L.A. County Supervisors Yvonne Burke and Mark Ridley-Thomas, and Congresswoman Diane Watson continue to express enthusiastic support for the proposed light-rail line. In a letter to Metro dated November 5, 2007, Congresswoman Watson wrote:

Having advocated strenuously for a light rail ‘spur line’ to carry passengers from the Wilshire Corridor down the Crenshaw Corridor and, ultimately, to LAX for 25 years now, I am delighted to offer continued encouragement, advocacy and feedback for a Metro study (to)…avoid aggravating (the) Leimert Park traffic bottleneck, Coliseum to Vernon;…Wilshire/La Brea station connection to Westside Corridor line, avoiding hydrogen sulfide;…fully consider (the) below-grade option. (Comment ID 116-125 in the cited link)^[8]

Environmental review process

The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) describes several alternatives, as well as "Design Options" (optional features with additional cost).^[5] Many other alignments were considered previously, but eliminated due to lack of feasibility or benefit.

Name	Cost (millions)*	Description
Project Alternatives
No-Build	$0	Nothing is built. (This is required for comparison to other alternatives.)
TSM	$25	"Transportation Systems Management": expanded bus service.
BRT (Bus Rapid Transit)	$554	High capacity buses, dedicated bus lanes, 12 bus stations along route between Imperial/Aviation and Wilshire/Western.
LRT (Light-Rail Transit)	$1,306	Light-rail trains, double-track route, 7-8 stations along route between Imperial/Aviation and Exposition/Crenshaw.
Design Options (LRT only)
Design Option 1	$11	Adds aerial grade separation at Century/Aviation, station also aerial.
Design Option 2	$16	Adds aerial grade separation at Manchester/Aviation.
Design Option 3	$13	Adds cut-and-cover (below-grade) grade separation at ROW/Centinela.
Design Option 4	$29	Replaces aerial grade-separation between 60th Street and Victoria Avenue with cut-and-cover (below-grade).
Design Option 5	$155	Adds a below-grade station at Leimert Park (Vernon Avenue).
Design Option 6	$236	Adds below-grade grade separation between Exposition and 39th Street.

* in 2008 dollars.

Maintenance facility

Metro staff studied and ranked 16 potential sites for the required maintenance facility.^[9] Through several rounds of screening, all but five were eliminated.

In March 2011, a Supplemental DEIS/R was released to the public, specifically related to the maintenance facility. This study was completed due to changes to capacity requirements of the Crenshaw Line. Three of the screened sites were carried forward into this study, and one new site was added.^[10] The four site options studied in the Supplemental DEIS/R (from north to south) are:

Site #	Name	City	Size (acres)	Operation
14	Arbor Vitae/Bellanca	Westchester	17.6	standalone
15	Manchester/Aviation	Inglewood	20.5	standalone
17	Marine/Redondo Beach	Redondo Beach	14.2	satellite to Division 22
D22N	Division 22 Expansion	Hawthorne	3.5	satellite to Division 22

Following the public comment period in April 2011, staff recommended adoption of the Arbor Vitae/Bellanca site, since it had no public objections and all environmental impacts could be mitigated. ^[7]

Selected Alternative

In December 2009, the Metro Board selected a Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA), and as of August 2010, Metro is conducting a Final Environmental Study for this alternative. This alternative includes the LRT Baseline alignment, plus Design Options 1, 2 and 4. Metro also authorized further study of the remaining design options.

In selecting this alternative, Metro staff eliminated the BRT (bus rapid transit) alternative, stating that it was too slow to provide much benefit, and that it generally lacked public support. Metro staff also concluded that the portion of the Crenshaw Corridor between Exposition and Wilshire was currently too expensive to include in this project if implemented as light-rail. Thus, study and implementation of that segment was deferred, to be considered separately in the future as a northern extension of the Crenshaw Line (see section below).

Metro estimates the light-rail line will initially have a daily ridership between 13,000 and 16,000, will cost $1.3 billion - $1.8 billion (in 2008 dollars), will take five years to complete construction, and will generate 7,800 construction jobs over this period.^[5]

Route

The LPA specifies a new 8.5-mile light-rail (LRT) route, starting at the Exposition/Crenshaw station (on the under-construction Metro Expo Line), and ending at the existing Imperial/Aviation station (on the Metro Green Line).

The northern half of the route follows Crenshaw Boulevard from Exposition down to 67th Street. The southern half of the route utilizes the Harbor Subdivision Right-Of-Way (ROW) from Crenshaw Boulevard to the Green Line just south of Imperial/Aviation.

At its northern terminus, Metro has decided not to directly connect the Crenshaw corridor track to the Metro Expo Line track. Such a connection would have allowed the Crenshaw Line to interline with the Expo Line and terminate in Downtown Los Angeles. However, Metro argues that this is not operationally feasible (three lines would share track on Flower Street, leading to delays), and is therefore not worth the cost.

At its southern terminus, the Crenshaw Corridor route will have direct track connections to the Green Line corridor. (The Metro Green Line already has an aerial "wye" junction built into it: this will allow Metro to connect the two corridors with minimal disruption to Green Line service.)

Stations

The project will include 6-8 new Metro stations:

• Exposition: located at Exposition/Crenshaw, connection to Expo Line.
• Martin Luther King: located at Martin Luther King Jr/Crenshaw.
• Vernon*: located at Vernon/Crenshaw .
• Slauson: located at Slauson/Crenshaw.
• West: located at West/Florence.
• La Brea: located at La Brea/Florence.
• Manchester*: located at Manchester/Aviation.
• Century: located at Century/Aviation, future connection to LAX Automated People Mover.

* station is proposed or optional.

Grade Separations

The route has several segments under consideration for grade-separation. The LRT Baseline (DEIR) includes a minimal set of grade separations: the design options specify additional grade separations. The locally preferred alternative (LPA) adopted by the Metro Board includes the LRT Baseline plus some additional grade separations. Other grade separations are also still under consideration. All grade separations are subject to the Metro Grade Crossing Policy.^[11]

The following table describes the route, divided into segments that may or may not be grade-separated.

Segment Start	Segment End	Length (miles)	Location	LRT Baseline [5]	Locally Preferred Alternative[6]	Additional Proposed	Stations In Segment
Crenshaw/Expo (northern terminus)	Crenshaw/39th (north of King)	0.5	street median	at-grade	at-grade	below-grade (DO6)	Exposition
Crenshaw/39th (north of King)	Crenshaw/48th (south of Vernon)	1.1	street median	below-grade	below-grade		King, Vernon*
Crenshaw/48th (south of Vernon)	Crenshaw/60th (south of Slauson)	1.0	street median	at-grade	at-grade	below-grade (PMH)	Slauson
Crenshaw/60th (south of Slauson)	ROW/Victoria (west of Crenshaw)	0.6	street median	aerial	below-grade (DO4)
ROW/Victoria (west of Crenshaw)	Florence east of Centinela	0.9	ROW	at-grade	at-grade		West
Florence east of Centinela	Florence/Locust (betw. Centinela and La Brea)	0.4	ROW crossing Centinela	at-grade	at-grade	below-grade (DO3)
Florence/Locust (betw. Centinela and La Brea)	Florence/Eucalyptus (west of La Brea)	0.6	ROW crossing La Brea	aerial	aerial		La Brea
Florence/Eucalyptus (west of La Brea)	Florence/Hyde Park (east of 405)	0.6	ROW	at-grade	at-grade
Florence/Hyde Park (east of 405)	Florence west of La Cienega	0.3	ROW crossing 405 and La Cienega	aerial	aerial
Florence west of La Cienega	Florence/Hindry (north of Manchester)	0.3	ROW	at-grade	at-grade
Florence/Hindry (north of Manchester)	Aviation south of Manchester	0.2	ROW crossing Manchester	at-grade	aerial (DO2)		Manchester*
Aviation south of Manchester	Aviation north of Century	0.7	ROW	at-grade	at-grade
Aviation north of Century	Aviation south of Century	0.4	ROW crossing Century	at-grade	aerial (DO1)		Century
Aviation south of Century	Aviation north of Imperial	0.7	ROW	below-grade	below-grade
Aviation north of Imperial	Aviation/Imperial (southern terminus)	0.2	ROW crossing Imperial	aerial	aerial

Notes:

• DO1: Design Option 1, $11 million. Approved and in LPA.
• DO2: Design Option 2, $16 million. Approved and in LPA.
• DO3: Design Option 3, $13 million. Currently being studied.
• DO4: Design Option 4, $29 million. Approved and in LPA.
• DO6: Design Option 6, $236 million. Currently being studied.
• PMH: Study of grade-separating (underground) the line through Park Mesa Heights between 48th and 60th Streets, requested by County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. See section below.

* station is proposed or optional.

Park Mesa Tunnel and Leimert Park station

In 2010, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas requested study of a tunnel through Park Mesa Heights. Metro staff studied the option and recommended against it. Staff concluded the option offers minimal benefit but high cost. The additional cost for the tunnel would be $219 million, or $167 million with Slauson station removed.^[12][13]

In May 2011, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas asked the Metro Board to vote on a motion requiring construction of both the tunnel and the station in Leimert Park. The Board voted against the tunnel, but approved the station under the condition that the entire project can be completed within its original budget.

Project budget

Measure R assumes a project cost of $1.470 billion (2008 dollars). Measure R sales tax revenues will provide up to $1.207 billion (82% of the budgeted cost). The remaining $263 million is expected to come from local funding. The Crenshaw Corridor project will not seek state or federal funding.^[14]

The LPA (including design options 1, 2 and 4) is estimated to cost $1.306 billion, which is within budget. If Metro were to include the remaining three design options, the cost would rise to $1.766 billion, exceeding the Measure R project cost by nearly $300 million.

In October 2010 the federal government awarded the corridor a $546 million loan, to be paid back by Measure R tax revenue. The loan will allow construction to begin in summer 2012. Project completion is expected in 2016 or 2018.^[15]

Planned service

Map showing future service of the Metro Crenshaw Line and Metro Green Line after the Crenshaw Corridor is completed.

When completed, the Crenshaw Corridor project will result in a new light-rail service, currently referred to as the Metro Crenshaw Line. This line will operate between Crenshaw/Expo in the north and Redondo Beach in the south. North of Imperial, it will run exclusively on track from the Crenshaw Corridor project; south of Imperial it will share existing track with the Metro Green Line.

In addition, the Metro Green Line will begin a new service pattern to the north, connecting Norwalk to the new Century/Aviation station. This new "northern extension" of the Green Line will allow for faster connections to both the Crenshaw Line and the future LAX Automated People Mover (APM).

Future Extensions

Phase 2 - extension north to Wilshire Boulevard (Purple Line)

The original plans for the Crenshaw Corridor project connected Wilshire Blvd. to LAX. However, during environmental review, Metro determined that if LRT were selected as the preferred mode, the cost for the entire route would exceed the project budget. In December 2009, the Metro Board selected LRT as the preferred mode: as a result, the part of the corridor north of Expo was deferred until funds become available. This segment can be considered a "Phase 2" extension of the original line.

Any Phase 2 extension would be expected to connect to the Purple Line, which is currently being studied for extension west (as part of the Westside Subway Extension project).

In May 2009, Metro released a report on the feasibility of an extension north to Wilshire/Blvd.^[16] It first screened two routes—one to Wilshire/La Brea, and another to Wilshire/Crenshaw. Through this screening, staff concluded that Wilshire/La Brea would be more cost-effective and more compatible with land uses and plans along its route. Specifically, the report cited the following advantages of the La Brea route over the Crenshaw route:

• Greater residential and job density,
• Supportive land-uses for a high capacity subway,
• Stronger regional potential to link this corridor northward towards Hollywood in the future,
• Strong community support in the Hancock Park area and
• Fewer geotechnical soil impacts compared to the Hydrogen sulfide soil along Crenshaw Blvd north of Pico Boulevard.

In October 2010, the Metro Board voted to eliminate the Wilshire/Crenshaw station from the Westside Subway Extension project, for similar reasons.^[17]

The 3.5-mile Wilshire/La Brea route heads north on Crenshaw to Venice, west on Venice to San Vicente, continuing northwest on San Vicente to La Brea, and then north on La Brea to Wilshire. It has three possible stations: Crenshaw/Adams (optional), Pico/San Vicente, and Wilshire/La Brea.

The feasibility report also allows for possible branches/extensions along La Brea, Fairfax or La Cienega, heading north of Wilshire into West Hollywood and/or Hollywood.

In November 2010, Metro staff produced an initial review of the feasibility of studying a transit corridor to connect the Crenshaw Corridor to West Hollywood and/or Hollywood.^[18]

Connection to Phase 1

The final design of "Phase 1" (the original project south of Exposition) will determine how the Phase 2 project will connect to Phase 1. The locally-preferred alternative (LPA) from the draft environmental study specifies an at-grade station at Crenshaw/Exposition, with the Leimert Park tunnel ending near 39th Street. If Phase 1 is built per the LPA, then Phase 2 would have to build a new tunnel with a connection near 39th Street. This would require the north end of the Leimert Park tunnel to be outfitted with knockout panels to allow for the future extension north.^[19]

Metro is also studying "Design Option 6", which would extend the Leimert Park tunnel north to Exposition, with an underground terminal station at Crenshaw/Exposition. If this design option were selected, Phase 2 would connect to Phase 1 directly at Crenshaw/Exposition. This design option would increase the cost of the original project by $236 million.

The final decision about where to end the Leimert Park tunnel will be made by the Metro Board after the FEIR is released in 2011.

References

1. ^ Metro (LACMTA). "Long Range Transportation Plan". http://www.metro.net/projects_studies/images/final-2009-LRTP.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-30. 
2. ^ Metro (LACMTA). "Measure R". http://www.metro.net/projects/measurer/. Retrieved 2010-08-30. 
3. ^ Metro (LACMTA). "Recap/Draft Minutes, Regular Board Meeting, 22 September 2011". http://www.metro.net/board/recap/2011/recap_20110922RBM.pdf. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Metro (LACMTA). "Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor (project website)". http://www.metro.net/projects/crenshaw_corridor/. Retrieved 2011-09-01. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Metro (LACMTA) (October 2009). "Crenshaw Transit Corridor DEIS/DEIR". http://www.metro.net/projects/crenshaw_corridor/draft-environmental-impact-report-deir/. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Metro (LACMTA) (December 2009). "Crenshaw Transit Corridor Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA)". http://metro.net/projects_studies/crenshaw/images/20091118P&PItem9.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
7. ^ ^{a b} http://www.metro.net/board/Items/2011/04_April/20110420P&PItem2.pdf
8. ^ Metro (LACMTA) (February 2008). "Crenshaw-Prairie Transit Corridor Project Scoping Study". 
9. ^ http://www.metro.net/projects/crenshaw_corridor/maintenance-facility-planning/
10. ^ http://www.metro.net/projects_studies/crenshaw/images/SDEIS_RDEIR/crenshaw_pt1_alternatives_considered.pdf
11. ^ Metro (LACMTA) (December 2003). "Grade Crossing Policy For Light Rail Transit". http://www.metro.net/about_us/library/images/Grade%20Crossing%20for%20Light%20Rail%20Transit.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
12. ^ Ridley-Thomas, Mark (December 2009). "MTA Board Unanimously Adopts $1.7 Billion Crenshaw To LAX Transit Corridor Light Rail System Championed By Supervisor Ridley-Thomas". http://ridley-thomas.lacounty.gov/Pages/Archive/home/09/121009.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
13. ^ http://www.metro.net/board/Items/2010/09_september/20100915MRPDItem7.pdf
14. ^ http://www.metro.net/measurer/images/expenditure_plan.pdf
15. ^ http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_16350096
16. ^ http://www.metro.net/projects_studies/crenshaw/images/Feasibility%20Study%20Wilshire-La%20Brea%20LRT%20Extension%20-%20Report.pdf
17. ^ http://www.metro.net/board/Agendas/2010/10_october/20101028ARBM.pdf
18. ^ http://www.metro.net/board/Items/2010/11_november/20101118MRPDItem6.pdf
19. ^ Metro (LACMTA) (March 19, 2008). "Crenshaw-Prairie Transit Corridor Project Status Report". http://www.metro.net/board/Items/2008/03_march/20080319P&PItem10.pdf. Retrieved 2008-07-21.