The project hit an important milestone this week when all 82 design packages were “Approved for Construction.” Most packages had reached this point earlier in the year, but the last few made it to the final point of approval this week.
Thousands of pages of engineering have been completed for the 11.5-mile project - from drainage, walls and fencing, to station and bridge designs, to the electrical and communication systems. Each package went through multiple iterations as the design progressed over the last 18 months, and all required the cooperation and assistance from our partner agencies.
Although there will still be design work occurring as the project continues through construction, this milestone is significant and reflects the hard work of my team, the team at FTC, and our partners at each corridor city, Metro, Caltrans and others. I want to thank everyone for their cooperation through this time-consuming process.
In July, the Gold Line will celebrate 10 years in operation. Last month ridership on the Gold Line surpassed ridership on the Green Line. Weekday boardings are now exceeding 43,000, and monthly boardings are over 1.1 million. As we look to the next two segments of the line – the Foothill Extension from Pasadena to Azusa in the next few years and then Azusa to Montclair later on, those numbers are sure to continue to grow significantly.
We appreciate SANBAG CEO expressing his support for the extension to Montclair in recent days; emphasizing their strong commitment to completing the line to Montclair.
--Gold Line Chairman and CEO Habib Balian
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