The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) board of directors approved the Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report for the Westside Subway Extension Project on April 26.
This first step toward certifying the USD 5.66bn project concerns only a 3.9-mile first phase with three new stations along Wilshire Boulevard. It does not include approval for the remaining project to Westwood, which is pending a hearing requested by the City of Beverly Hills.
Concerns over the proposed location for Century Station and tunnelling beneath Beverly Hills High School will be address in the hearing. The alignment has been a point of contention for the city and school district for more than a year when Metro approved the draft environmental impact report on 28 October 2010.
It is reported that the school district has spent more than USD 2M on the issue.
More recently the Beverly Hills Parent Teacher council has released an overly-dramatic and highly-charged video depicting catastrophes at the high school, in opposition to the line. “Those tunnels aren’t going to be running under the buildings. They’re so shallow they’re going to be running through the buildings,” said Tim Buresh, the school district’s lead engineer, between scenes of explosions.
The option to add comments on the YouTube video has been disabled. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81tihdzaecc&feature=player_embedded#!
Following the hearing, Metro will still need to approve the full project and obtain federal environmental clearance before moving forward with various pre-construction activities, including awarding a construction contract. Construction could begin in 2013.
