Metro Officials To Hear From Public About Purple Line Extension Project

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Residents Thursday will get the chance to question Metro officials about the impact of a massive tunneling project to extend the Purple Line subway that is scheduled to begin next year.

Officials will be available for questions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue at 5:30 p.m.

Construction for the Purple Line Extension project is expected to begin under Wilshire Boulevard in 2014.

"The worse thing for people is really the unknown, and we want to make sure we really tell people over the next year as we get ready for construction and going forward what they can expect so people can prepare for it," Metro's Community Relations manager Jody Litvak told KNX1070.

Residents can expect street closures at the beginning of the project, but after the initial excavation of stations the area will be covered with concrete decking.

"I don't want to sugarcoat it, there's no way to do this invisibly," Litvak said. "But unlike the 405 project, the construction impacts are going to be localized at the station sites."

The digging is expected to last for at least nine years, but officials say there won't be major construction during that entire time.

"When this is all said and done we are getting an amazing subway that will allow people to travel between downtown and the Westside in 25 minutes," Litvak said.

The nine-mile extension will add seven new stations at:

• Wilshire/La Brea
• Wilshire/Fairfax
• Wilshire/La Cienega
• Wilshire/Rodeo
• Century City
• Westwood/UCLA
• Westwood/Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital

For more information, check out Metro's Purple Line Extension project.