CCA continues to advocate for future investments that will connect more of LA County to Downtown Los Angeles’ (DTLA) jobs, housing, cultural and educational opportunities. We look forward to the opening of transformative transit projects like the Regional Connector and the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project that will better connect our neighborhoods. A few weeks ago, the Metro Board of Directors made key decisions about the future of the West Santa Ana Branch (WSAB), another potentially transformative project. The WSAB is a top priority infrastructure project for CCA because the new rail line would significantly improve regional mobility and access to DTLA. Known as one of the four Pillar Projects, the WSAB was meant to be delivered as soon as 2028, in time for the LA Olympics, and would connect the Gateway Cities in Southeast LA County, beginning in Artesia and ending in DTLA.

The Metro Board approved the portion of the line that will receive final environmental clearance and is to be built first – from Pioneer to Slauson / A (Blue) Line. The Board also agreed that the WSAB would end at LA Union Station and run along Alameda Street in DTLA to provide much-needed transit access to the eastern portions of DTLA including the Arts and Industrial Districts.

We appreciate Metro Board Directors Hahn, Solis, Garcetti, Mitchell and Dutra for leading the Board’s commitment that the project should only be deemed complete upon its connection to LA Union Station with a Little Tokyo station. However, we know that the project must overcome major challenges, especially the project’s price tag, which has increased to nearly $7 billion. It is disappointing that the WSAB cannot be built as one project because it raises concerns about the complete project’s overall costs, timeline and design.

Bringing the WSAB to Downtown is the best way to truly deliver on the project’s goals of connecting Gateway City residents with the economic, cultural and community resources in DTLA. Our continued advocacy on behalf of our members will be critical to ensuring that the project’s full potential is realized. Building on our previous comments on the importance of the WSAB to DTLA and the region, we called for Metro to urgently prioritize and accelerate project delivery, especially by aggressively seeking state and federal funding as well as pursuing value capture strategies like Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts.

CCA also called on Metro to begin community engagement with Downtown stakeholders as soon as possible so that the eastern DTLA community can provide much-needed input on the design proposals and hold Metro accountable for completing the WSAB. The current budget proposal has the WSAB running underground along Alameda in DTLA and would provide station access at Little Tokyo and 7th and Alameda Streets. Undergrounding the rail line will be costly but it also aligns with the impacted communities’ priorities, is safer and more efficient. We have seen the challenges with the A (Blue) Line running at grade through South Park and on Washington Boulevard and oppose replicating this design in additional parts of DTLA.

Ensuring project delivery will mean working closely with Metro’s Board of Directors, Metro agency leadership, our elected officials at all levels of government and CCA’s strong coalition of members who have expertise in value capture, engineering, transit-oriented development and more. CCA will continue to advocate for projects and improvements that increase access and connectivity to the many resources in our city center and will work to ensure that projects’ objectives are achieved.