On a sunny, typically 72-degree Thursday in Long Beach in 1985 — Oct. 31, to be exact — dozens of civic leaders gathered just west of the 710 freeway for a groundbreaking. Shovels were turning dirt that day to start work on the Blue Line, the 22-mile light rail project between downtown L.A. and downtown Long Beach.

Mayor Tom Bradley and County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn (third and fifth from left to right) during the Blue Line groundbreaking.

At the site of the Blue Line’s future rail maintenance yard, then County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn declared, “Let’s build, build, build to the year 2000.” His point was that this was just the first of many transit projects to come that would finally give area residents an alternative to sitting in the traffic that had come to define life in Southern California. After the streetcars stopped running in the early 1960s, there was no rail transit in Southern California even as the region’s population grew and traffic got worse.

The groundbreaking of the Blue Line (now A Line) took place on October 31, 1985. The Line opened to the public on July, 1990;

As it turns out, Hahn was correct and…incorrect. The building that began in 1985 continued until 2000 and then never really let up. As soon as one rail project was completed over the past 40 years, another would begin. The recently opened A Line extension between Azusa and Pomona increased the Metro Rail system to 118 miles. Soon, four more miles will be added: the highly anticipated first section of the D Line Extension to the Miracle Mile and western Beverly Hills.

Our Board will also soon select a route (known as the Locally Preferred Alternative in industry jargon) for an extension from Redondo Beach to Torrance. Like all the rail lines that came prior, there has been a robust civic debate about the route.

Of course, there has never been 100 percent agreement about the building of our rail system. The votes for the four sales tax measures approved by voters that have helped fund our rail expansion were not unanimous (the most recent, 2016’s Measure M, received the most support with 71 percent approval). Virtually every project — or components of projects — faced some degree of opposition.

Which brings us to this point of emphasis: while Metro may not have everyone’s support for every project, we strive to A) build projects that will serve the mobility needs of as many people as possible, and B) mitigate as many concerns by residents and businesses as possible.

David Mieger, Senior Executive Officer in Mobility Corridor Planning, who has been at Metro since 1991, reflects on this approach. “We can’t just show a design and say, ‘This is what we are going to do,” he says. “We have to work to build support, so the community sees it as their project. That means – listening – and sometimes rethinking how we build it.”

Below are some examples of concerns about some projects over the decades and what we’ve worked with communities to move forward:

D Line Extension** **

The concern: Excavating subway tunnels in an area with underground methane gas and earthquake faults would be dangerous to build and operate.

• How we addressed it: Metro conducted additional analysis on potential alignments in Beverly Hills and Century City, performed site investigations to confirm soil conditions, and prepared a tunnel safety report that was reviewed by the Metro Tunnel Advisory Panel, an independent group of experts. As a result, the Final Environmental Impact Report, published in March 2012, included a refined route to safely travel below Century City and Beverly Hills High School. Tunneling section 2 of the project was completed safely in late 2023 in one of the densest and most geologically challenging urban corridors in the L.A. region and nation. An image of the D Line Extension groundbreaking.

“On this project, we had to exhaust all the possibilities [the community] wanted us to consider and review all the alternatives,” Mieger recalls. “We worked on seismic and tunnel safety, did research into the oil wells and underground gas deposits, and established the science that demonstrated that tunneling could be done safely.”

G Line (Orange Line) Busway** **

This project is a unique chapter in Metro’s transit history. Stretching 18 miles along an old rail corridor across the San Fernando Valley, it began as a concept for heavy rail in the early 1990s, and light rail was considered as an option. However, after state legislation and a voter-approved measure, Metro shifted course and developed Los Angeles’ first Bus Rapid Transit [BRT] that was based heavily on a bus rapid transit system in Curitiba, Brazil.

The concern: Residents living near the project worried about noise, safety at crossings, and the visual impacts of a busway cutting across the Valley. Some community groups argued Metro should expand the existing Rapid Bus service instead of building a new dedicated bus corridor.

Mieger recalls that the area included an Orthodox Jewish community with many synagogues on the right-of-way, concerned that pushing crosswalk buttons would interfere with walking to temple on the Sabbath. “On that day, they aren’t allowed to touch mechanical equipment, and pushing buttons on the crosswalks was going to block their ability to worship,” he says.

• How we addressed it: After further environmental review, Metro moved forward with the BRT project. Crosswalks were redesigned to activate automatically, and safety lights and warning signs were installed at intersections. Other measures included the addition of sound walls, paving with rubberized asphalt to reduce noise, and planting 5,000 trees and more than 800,000 pieces of vegetation along the route.

“It was the right switch, and we were able to address the opposition -creating something that matched the community’s needs,” says Mieger. The G Line opened in 2005, and we are now upgrading the corridor with crossing gates and a couple of bridges over intersections to make it even safer.

E Line (formerly Gold Line) Eastside Extension** **

The concern: The proposed route required land from Ramona High School in East L.A., raising strong objections from the school district and community members.

• How we addressed it: Metro reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Unified School District to help fund and support a full reconfiguration of Ramona High School. The $47 million project – including $32 million in Metro contributions – ensured the school could continue serving students while Metro secured the land needed to build Indiana Station. The six-mile light rail extension opened in 2009 and continues to serve thousands of daily riders in East L.A.

K Line (formerly Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project)

The concern: Disruptions for local businesses during construction and fears that rising rents would displace minority-owned businesses and families that had long resided along the project’s route.

• How we addressed it: Metro worked closely with the community on the project design and Leimert Park saw key revitalization efforts. “We also implemented programs for local businesses,” says Mieger. These included the Business Interruption Fund (BIF), which provides financial assistance to small “mom and pop” shops, and Eat, Shop Play, a program that offered marketing support during construction. “It was a unique community here and we wanted the businesses to not just survive but to thrive,” Mieger adds. Metro also supported housing development through the proposed Crenshaw Crossing joint development next to Expo/Crenshaw Station – with 401 residential units (81 of them affordable), a community room available for neighborhood organizations, green areas, and a long-awaited supermarket. “The community wanted one, so we included it as a part of our transit station…We have to be more than just transit planners. We must build support in the community,” Mieger adds.

**A story of learning and listening **

Every rail or busway project brings excitement – and naturally, questions, fears and concerns from the communities nearby. On some projects litigation is filed. However, work always continues to refine and address concerns with designs and mitigations that have proved to be successful on similar, completed projects. In other cases, new and unique solutions are found.

Over the years, neighbors have questioned how close rail lines would run to homes, whether street crossings would affect traffic and safety, how construction will impact parking, how loud noise and vibrations would be from trains and signals, and what happens when old rail corridors are revived and once-empty spaces are taken over by transit.

Metro has consistently worked to address these concerns and to find thoughtful solutions.

That work has meant listening closely and evolving along the way. “Instead of talking to the community, we’re talking with the community,” says Mieger.

Metro representatives explained a project during a meeting with the community.

Every neighborhood is unique and has its own vision for how transit fits into daily life. Mieger says community engagement today feels more personal than ever. “It’s not an abstract community that’s faceless,” he says. “People come to our Board meetings and share their comments. We see them, and if we do something they don’t like, they call us.

This ongoing dialogue has led to real changes in how projects are built. Metro has conducted additional alignment analyses, geotechnical studies and tunnel safety reports; completing supplemental environmental work and revised studies when needed. Safety improvements have been added at street crossings, while mitigation measures address construction impacts such as noise, vibration and loss of parking.

As part of that work, frequent community meetings and open houses continue through the construction phase– even during the pandemic, when we moved them online — have been central to this process. They give residents a space to raise questions, share input, and shape the projects being built around them. Metro has also supported neighborhoods through programs that help offset construction impacts: our Eat Shop Play offers marketing assistance while our Business Interruption Fund helps small businesses make up for lost revenue.

“Every community is different,” Mieger says. “You have to figure out what is important to them and how to build the project in a way that supports those goals. It’s not about how many people we carry on the trains. It’s how this helps the community thrive when the transit project is complete.”

That’s why the groundbreaking in 1985 was about more than steel and concrete – it was about a community choosing a new future that included high-capacity, fast mass transit. That same spirit guides us today. Each meeting, each tough conversation reflects our commitment to listen and make projects better. Rail is never built overnight, and never without debate.

Over four decades, we’ve seen what’s possible when we keep building together –with about 5.7 million boardings every month that give people a real alternative to driving and creating more traffic. As we look at Torrance, to Beverly Hills, to the Sepulveda Corridor and East L.A. and beyond, we carry forward the same promise: a more connected, accessible and hopeful future for Angelenos.

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