The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday approved the final environmental impact report for the first 3.9 miles of what used to be called the “Subway to the Sea” but what is now called the Westside Subway Extension because it no longer goes to the sea. It means work could begin as early next year.
The board only approved the subway under Wilshire from downtown to La Cienega because Beverly Hills is fighting the proposed tunnel under Beverly Hills High School. The Purple Line will allegedly eventually end at the VA Hospital in Westwood.
“Today’s certification of the Westside Subway Extension final environmental impact report reflects the culmination of nearly five years of environmental analysis by Metro and unprecedented community engagement,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who also chairs Metro’s board. “We are now closer than we’ve ever been to getting this project under construction.”
Curbed LA reports that the station at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax will not be at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax; rather, it will be a block east on the South side of Orange Grove Ave. LACMA says it will pay to have a station built on the North side of the street, delivering passengers right to the museum.
The move of the station is a concession to LACMA and private developers on the South side of Wilshire. So now people will have to walk an extra block so a bunch of rich guys can get even richer. Why not just build the station as planned (in an empty lot next to Johnie’s at Wilshire and Fairfax), then have LACMA pay for the station on its grounds? Subway stations can have two entrances, you know.
Just another example of poor decision-making in our fair city.