The Beverly Hills City Council continues to support a Westside Subway Extension subway route that would be constructed under Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards. This route prevents tunneling under residential properties and the Beverly Hills High School. City officials have retained advocates in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Washington, D.C. and remain engaged with Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) staff and government representatives on this issue.
A peer review of Metro’s safety analysis of the proposed Westside Subway Extension has been released. The report, commissioned by the City of Beverly Hills, analyzes seismic and other safety issues surrounding the proposed tunneling through Beverly Hills. Executive summary and full report available online. Exponent engineers made a presentation to the City Council at the February, 7, 2012 study session.
Metro CEO Arthur T. Leahy has responded to the report in a letter to Mayor Barry Brucker. Mayor Brucker replied, sent all Exponent materials to Metro and asked Metro to respond to the recommendations in the reports.
At an Oct. 19 meeting of Metro's planning committee, Metro staff and consultants laid out the results of geiseismic studies indicating that earthquake faults make it unsafe to locate a Westside Subway Extension station on Santa Monica Boulevard in Century City. The City commissioned a separate, independent analysis of Metro’s seismic findings to determine whether, based on the latest technology, the most professional geotechnical procedures were followed and accurate conclusions were reached. The results are in the reports mentioned above.
Videos of the Oct. 19 meeting and a media briefing is available on YouTube in three parts:
Part 1: Oral report/presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omx2BTIpzAk
Part 2: Committee discussion, questions and public comment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8ArVHVje-w
Part 3: News briefing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjHH10pmIz8
Click on the following link for additional information regarding the Westside Subway Extension Project (this will take you to Metro's website) or contact Metro's Project Information line at (213) 922-6934.
Mass Transit Committee Report
Westside Subway Extension Comment Letter October 19, 2010
Letter Requesting 90-Day Delay October 14, 2011
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