The Expo Line is an MTA project to construct a light rail line, similar the Metro Blue Line, to connect Downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica. The line is currently broken into two phases. Phase 1 is from Downtown LA to Culver City and is currently funded. Phase 2 is intended to complete the line from Culver City to the beach, but is not yet designed or funded.
Phase 1 has received $862 million dollars in primarily state and local funding and is scheduled to open in 2010. It will be 8.6 miles in length, feature ten stations, two which will be shared by the Blue Line.
The Downtown Segment:
The train will travel south from 7th St Metro Center to 11th Street, sharing the existing Blue Line tunnel under Flower St. South of 11th Street, it continues down the eastern side of Flower to Jefferson Blvd at-street level primarily adjacent to industrial buildings and the I-110 freeway, in a design called side-street running. Just south of Jefferson, at the new USC Galen Center, the train enters a short trench as it turns west to the median of Exposition Blvd where the abandoned railroad tracks currently lay. The railroad tracks are known as a right-of-way (ROW). The train comes out of the trench about a 1000 feet west of Figueroa to the middle of Exposition Blvd traffic, and begins running at street-level, in a design called "median street running" to Vermont.
The South LA Segment:
From Vermont to just east of Arlington the train continues in the middle of Exposition Blvd traffic in median street running. From Arlington to Crenshaw the train will travel on the very narrow right-of-way on the southern side of Exposition with fences and street crossings with crossing gates, a design described as "semi-exclusive." When it reaches Crenshaw however, there are no crossing gates. It continues in a semi-exclusive alignment from Crenshaw to just east of La Brea where it will travel down the middle of big and little Exposition Blvd. The communities from Vermont to just east of La Brea are primarily residential.
The West End/Culver City Segment:
An overpass is at La Brea and it returns to semi-exclusive running down a generously sized ROW until the La Cienega overpass, which extends over Jefferson Blvd and Ballona Creek in the city of Culver City. It then returns to exclusive running (no street crossings) down a generous ROW to the Washington Blvd and National Blvd overpass to the Venice/Robertson terminus.
Station Locations:
Stations are proposed at:
7th/Flower (existing station shared with the Blue Line)
Pico/Flower (existing station shared with the Blue Line)
23rd St/Flower
Jefferson/Flower
Trousdale/Exposition
Vermont/Exposition
Western/Exposition
Crenshaw/Exposition
La Brea/Exposition
La Cienega/Exposition
Venice/Robertson
