Get ready for some big traffic jams along Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile most weekends for the next five months.
Metro officials said Friday that it will implement 22 consecutive weekend closures along stretches of Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile area to accommodate construction of the subway station at Wilshire and La Brea Avenue. The weekend closures will begin next Friday night.
Depending on your view, it could have been worse. The agency scrapped a plan that would have shut down a portion of Wilshire for seven consecutive full weeks, opting instead for limiting closures only to the less-traveled weekends.
During the 22 weekends, a Metro contractor will excavate a stretch of Wilshire and replace it with concrete decking. The weekend work will be suspended during the Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends.
The affected stretches of Wilshire will be closed beginning at 8 p.m. on Fridays through 6 a.m. Mondays. The first phase will involve three weekend closures from Detroit Street to La Brea. The second phase will involve three weekend closures at the La Brea intersection. The third — and biggest — phase will be 16 weekend closures of Wilshire from La Brea to Highland Avenue.
Metro officials said access will be maintained for local businesses and residents.
The work is part of the $6.3 billion extension of the Metro Purple Line, which currently ends at Wilshire and Western Avenue. The extension will stretch the line west to Wilshire and La Cienega, with the project expected to be open by 2023. The line will then been stretched to the West Los Angeles VA hospital by 2035, although the timeline could be advanced as Metro explores additional funding.
“Metro continues to transform transportation in L.A. County, and we’re now ready to begin building the first of three subway stations that will provide more Angelenos with fast, frequent, high-capacity transit services along Wilshire Boulevard — one of our region’s most congested corridors,” said county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, the chairman of the Metro board. “We have planned this operation to be as least invasive as possible, and we ask for the public’s patience as we continue building a world-class transportation system for our country.”
—Staff and wire reports