Construction on the new Crenshaw/LAX line is 90% completed, and with test trains are running on the brand-new 8.5 mile long rail line, service is expected to begin in the coming year. The $2.1 billion train line will pass through parts of South LA and the South Bay, providing a link between the existing E (formerly Expo) and Green lines. It will also bring riders to within a short shuttle ride of LAX.
Eventually, the train line is slated to travel as far north as Hollywood, likely winding through Mid-Wilshire and West Hollywood along the way. But that portion of the project will be constructed in a separate phase, and is still more than a decade from completion.
According to Curbed LA, the train’s northernmost stop will be at the intersection of Crenshaw and Exposition boulevards, where riders can transfer to and from the E Line. From there, the train will proceed down Crenshaw, making stops at Martin Luther King Boulevard, Leimert Park Village, and Slauson Avenue. It hooks west for stops near Florence Avenue and West Boulevard, Florence and La Brea, and Florence and Manchester. The train then rolls on to Aviation and Century boulevards before meeting up with the Green Line’s Aviation station south of LAX.
Neighborhoods served by the train include Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, Hyde Park, and Westchester, along with the city of Inglewood.
The Crenshaw/LAX Line was once scheduled to be up and running in 2019, but construction delays have pushed back its arrival to 2020. According to a recent project status report, construction is 93 percent complete and the train line is on track for a summer or fall opening.
The project was partially conceived as a long-awaited transit link to LA’s busiest airport, but it won’t actually bring airline passengers to their terminals. Instead, riders can board or exit the train at a planned stop at 96th Street and Aviation Boulevard. That station is scheduled to be complete in 2023, when a new people mover tram system is expected to be up-and-running at the airport.
From the new station, riders will be able to transfer to the people mover—which connects to the terminal area and a rental car facility. While those projects are under construction, riders can board free bus shuttles that will connect to the airport from the Aviation/Century station.
Photo credit -Mass Transit
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