Metro Public Hearing Today, BH Wants 'All the Science'

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors will hold a public hearing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday to review the objections that Beverly Hills city and school officials have to a subway tunnel going under Beverly Hills High School to reach a station in Century City.

The hearing will take place at the Metro Board Conference Room, One Gateway Plaza, 3rd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Patch will be there to the event.

The board last month of the $5.6 billion Westside Subway Extension, an expansion of the downtown L.A. Purple Line, but delayed action on the next two segments so it can to the route. A roughly 3.9-mile extension from Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue to La Cienega Boulevard and Wilshire was given the green light, but the board opted to postpone action on the extension of the subway to Century City and Westwood.

Beverly Hills Mayor William Brien said that while residents of the city are "enthusiastic supporters" of the subway extension, they beneath "the historic core of Beverly Hills High School," which may "preclude future construction" at the campus.

Citing earthquake risks and ridership data, a Century City station at Constellation Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars over an alternative stop at Santa Monica Boulevard and Century Park East. The selection means the subway would have to travel under a portion of BHHS.

Beverly Hills city and school district officials have and said building the station at Constellation Boulevard would be more expensive.

"We only ask all of the science available be reviewed," Beverly Hills Councilman Barry Brucker said.

But County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a member of the Metro board, has insisted there are subway tunnels built under courthouses, homes, schools and businesses elsewhere that have caused no problems. In any case, he said, the start of construction near the Beverly Hills campus is "a long way off."

"There is room to talk and room to make this work for everyone concerned," Yaroslavsky told a crowded meeting hall.

In the first phase of the extension, the train will stop at La Brea and Fairfax avenues and La Cienega Boulevard. Future segments would take the train south toward Century City, then west, with stops on Wilshire near UCLA and the Veterans Administration hospital just west of the San Diego (405) Freeway.

When complete, riders would be able to travel the Purple Line from downtown L.A. to Westwood in 25 minutes, according to Metro officials, who predict an average 49,300 weekday boardings.

Draft environmental documents put the cost at $4.36 billion in 2009 dollars. The final documents calculate the projected cost using the estimated value of the dollar in 2022, when the first phase is scheduled to open.

Metro hopes to break ground on the extension by the fall of 2013. Its timetable calls for the first segment to La Cienega to open in 2022. The 2.62-mile stretch to Century City would open in 2026 and the final 2.48 miles to the VA Hospital would open in 2036.

Local officials have been pushing for federal legislation that would , allowing the entire 8.9-mile extension to be completed by 2022.

This report was compiled with information from City News Service.

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