L.A. Metro Hires Contractor to Build Purple Line Running Through West L.A.

Crews work on an extension of the Metro Purple Line subway at Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. A California bill would allow four- to eight-story residential buildings to go up on properties that sit near rail stations and major bus stops. (Credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: May 23, 2019 / 06:31 PM PDT

Updated: May 23, 2019 / 06:31 PM PDT

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Los Angeles County transportation officials on Thursday approved the last major contract needed to build the Purple Line subway extension to the Westside, a significant step for the region’s most anticipated rail project in a generation.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board unanimously hired a joint venture led by Sylmar-based Tutor Perini Corp. to build two subway stations and install the tracks and signals inside two massive tunnels beneath Century City and West L.A.

Most of the $9-billion Purple Line will run beneath Wilshire Boulevard, the most-traveled mass transit corridor in the county. Metro expects to finish the subway by 2027, the year before Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics.

“It’s going to be done before the Olympics,” said Rick Clarke, Metro’s chief program management officer. “With all the contracts awarded, it’s a certain thing that the project is going to get completed.”

Read the full story at LATimes.com.