Opportunity
Over the years, four light rail transit (LRT) lines have been built to serve the sprawling city of Los Angeles, each one ending at the edge of the downtown Los Angeles area. Beginning in 1980s, plans were discussed for a rail link that would provide easy transfers between the city’s north-west and east-south LRT systems.
The Regional Connector was planned as a 1.9-mile (3-kilometer) trunk line that would run from the Little Tokyo/Arts District Station on the Gold Line to the 7th Street/Metro Center Station in downtown LA. The line would serve Little Tokyo/Arts District, Civic Center/Broadway, Grand Avenue/Bunker Hill, and the Financial District.
Challenges to the project included the need to reduce noise and vibration at a prestigious music school and the Disney Concert Hall, and to avoid disrupting the operation of the existing Gold Line. Because of seismic activity in Southern California, the line had to be designed to be earthquake-resilient.
Solution
LA Metro selected the Contractor Joint Venture of Skanska/Traylor with Mott MacDonald as the prime designer for this major and highly complex design-build delivery project. Our scope of work included the following:
- One mile of twin bored tunnels
- Nearly one mile of cut-and-cover guideway tunnel
- First crossover cavern on the metro system
- Three underground stations
- Three cross-passages
- Ventilation, power, and communication systems
- Civil, roadway, and utility work
- Direct fixation track, four double crossovers, and floating slab track in sensitive areas requiring mitigation of noise and vibration
Building Information Modeling (BIM) was used to design stations and cut-and-cover tunnels: the first 3D design delivery to be used for the LA Metro system.
Outcome
The Regional Connector opened to the public in June 2023. LA Metro expects it to handle 60,000 or more trips each weekday.
The Regional Connector enables a single-seat ride throughout Los Angeles County. It links LA Metro’s entire 80-station system to Southern California’s regional passenger rail system (Metrolink), which services 55 stations.
The new Metro Rail connection offers an alternative transportation option to congested roadways, providing significant environmental benefits, economic development, and employment opportunities throughout Los Angeles County.