Dignitaries and community members got on their bikes and feet Saturday to celebrate the opening of Metro’s new green space corridor connecting rail stations with paths that replaced blighted railroad tracks.
The Rail to Rail Active Transportation Corridor is a 5.5-mile path to connect South Los Angeles and Inglewood communities served by Metro trains.
Participants at the grand opening rode bicycles, scooters and roller skates or walked along a separate parallel path to check out the project that was paid for with $166 million from Measures M and R, and is the seventh of 28 projects Metro will complete by the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic games.
The paths run between the Metro K Line Fairview Heights Station, J Line Slauson Station and A Line Slauson Station.
The project includes 472 new trees, all indigenous species, and connects users with 17 Metro bus lines, three DASH bus lines and five Metro Bike Share stations along the alignment. It offers rest areas with benches and is within walking distance of several neighborhood schools, parks and other community amenities.
For safety, there are 52 security cameras along the alignment that are monitored at the Metro Security Operation Center and nine emergency telephones.