New Round of Regional Connector Input Meetings Kick Off Monday

By Eric Richardson
Published: Friday, March 27, 2009, at 12:31PM

Regional Connector Render: 2nd Street Looking West

Metro

A rendering of how the underground Regional Connector might look under 2nd street.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — A new round of Regional Connector input meetings will kick off Monday, soliciting input on what should be considered in the project's environmental documents. The project, which would connect the light rail lines entering 7th / Metro station to the Gold Line in Little Tokyo, was officially approved by the Metro board in January.

Now that the project is "real", it must go through the steps required to certify necessary environmental documents. The first of those is a set of scoping meetings very similar to those held in November of 2007. Those thinking of attending should take note that these meetings are intended to solicit comments, not to create a conversation, so don't expect immediate answers to any questions raised. Given that, interested parties may find it more convenient to simply submit comments via email.

The Alternatives Analysis done for the Connector settled on two possible build alternatives, one largely above-ground and one largely underground. Costs for the two options run from $709 - $910 million. During previous community meetings, speakers have overwhelmingly favored the underground option.

For those interested in attending a meeting can see a schedule on Metro's project site. Downtown options are Wednesday evening and Thursday mid-day. Comments can also be submitted by web, email and phone.

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Topic:
Regional Connector

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Comments

Scott Mercer writes:

Gotta get it put underground. If any place in Los Angeles requires that trains be put underground, Downtown is that place. I hope as many people as possible can go to at least one of these meetings and once again state for the record their support of the underground option.

Okay, even if all goes well the earliest it could be done is about 2016, but we need to push this forward as fast as possible. It's a great project and will add exponentially to the usefulness of the Metro rail system as a whole.

# on Mar.27.2009 AT 03:42 PM

Tim writes:

2016! Geez. None of this could even be relevent by then. I remember a sign a Fairfax & Sunset proclaiming a future metrorail stop (before the Ross Dress for Less explosion changed everything). Then there was the Pico/San Vicente routing of the Red Line (before Zev's initiative that once again changed everything). And I would suspect that 10 years from now we will look at the proposed downtown connector and comment "before the economic crisis of 2009 changed everything."

# on Mar.30.2009 AT 03:13 PM

Ginny-Marie Case writes:

The rest of this week's meetings:

Tuesday, March 31, 2009; 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Lake Avenue Church 393 N Lake Ave, Pasadena, CA, 91101

Wednesday, April 1, 2009; 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Japanese American National Museum (JANM) 369 E 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Thursday, April 2, 2009; Noon to 1:30 p.m. Board Room, Los Angeles Central Library 630 W 5th St, Los Angeles, CA 90071

# on Mar.31.2009 AT 11:49 AM

Ginny-Marie Case writes:

Don't forget!

Send your comments to regionalconnector@metro.net before May 11th!

# on Apr.24.2009 AT 12:44 AM