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Glamour of LA - Metro Green Line / Crenshaw Corridor Connection - Relic of the 1990s or Planning Ahead? - Now Under Way!! / Never Gonna Reach the Airport

Glamour of LA - Metro Green Line / Crenshaw Corridor Connection - Relic of the 1990s or Planning Ahead? - Now Under Way!! / Never Gonna Reach the Airport

            The short rebar column dates back to the original construction of the Metro Green Line in the 1990s, as does the two turn-outs "hanging in the air" - for an "eventual" connection to the airport. Current plans are to run the south end of the proposed Crenshaw Corridor along the abandoned freight train right of way along Aviation Boulevard - with a station at Century Boulevard (still a mile from the airport). An actual transit connection to the airport is "under discussion" - for now there is a shuttle bus from the Aviation Boulevard station of the Metro Green line (across the street). The airport starts in the center of the photo but the main terminals are still about a mile north and a mile west.

The design details of connecting the Green Line stumps to the existing freight line alignment, while fitting under I-105 and not blocking Aviation Boulevard or Imperial Highway, seems like a significant challenge. The project map shows a transition from subway to elevated near Imperial Highway - details not clear how this will be done.

Added September 2013: preliminary work (utility relocation) has started on the Crenshaw Corridor. The exact route and station location remains controversial - current plans do not include a direct connection to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). "Maybe" a "people mover" connection to the Airport - no better than the current bus connection.

Added February 2014: saw some construction activity where the railroad tracks cross Imperial Highway. The British publication "Tramways & Urban Transit" reported that the groundbreaking was on 21 January 2014. The people mover link to the airport is confirmed. Opening is expected in 2019.

March 2014 - from the project website:

"As part of the construction of Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project, Walsh-Shea Corridor Constructors will begin removal of old railroad track along the Metro’s right-of way from Florence Av between Crenshaw Bl and Manchester Av and Aviation Bl between Manchester Av and Imperial Hwy. Railroad crossings at the intersections will be removed in the future. It is anticipated that the work is scheduled to begin Monday, February 3, 2014, for approximately 4 months"

No mention of a direct link to the Airport.

Added August 2014: the rebar column has been disturbed, some of the bars are bent. The tracks have been lifted and a work truck is sometimes parked nearby.

Added January 2015: some workers were seen in this area; steel beams are being stockpiled nearby, probably for the elevated structure to connect the Crenshaw Corridor to the existing Green Line stubs.

Added February 2015: the Crenshaw Corridor will never reach the airport. Instead an "Intermodal Center" is proposed at Aviation and 96 Street with an "Automated People Mover" into the airport as part of a $4 billion airport upgrade. Hardly a step forward from the current shutle bus!

Added March 2015: two large cranes are on the site doing preparations for construction of the ramp from the ground to the existing Green Line stumps. Large diameter corrugated culvert segments are piled up. The street in front is being restriped and diverted for a planned 2 year construction period.

Added February 2023: 10 years after the photo much of the Crenshaw Corridor is open -- but not the connection to the Green Line.

Taken in: United States / California / Hawthorne (show map)

Taken on: February 5, 2013

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