The Santa Monica city council is on a transit roll this week; they approved an Expo-adjacent apartment building with no parking and on Tuesday they approved $9.5 million to increase the number of platforms, design pedestrian plazas, and build bike amenities for the Expo Line light rail, coming to the city in about three years. The Lookout News reports that $6.7 million of that money will go to the Bergamot Station stop, the first station in Santa Monica. The money will allow for two platforms to ease crowding (the original design by the Expo Construction Authority only called for one). The remainder of the Bergamot money will pay for signalized crossings at each end of the station to improve pedestrian access to the Bergamot Arts Center. The Seventeenth Street station got $2.4 million for a second entrance, as well as a bicycle facility and other amenities. Finally, the downtown stop at Fourth and Colorado received $450,000 for preliminary design work on the terminus of the line at the $2.2 million Colorado Esplanade, "which will radically alter Colorado Avenue from 6th Street to the Pier entrance," according to the LN. "[City] staff wants to make sure that the stairs coming down from the platform will lead into the heart of Santa Monica." And it sounds like they're planning a lot of signage at the Esplanade to help people efficiently shop enjoy the city. Wouldn't it be nice if LA kicked in some money for a Leimert Park stop on the Crenshaw Line?
· SM Authorizes Funding for Metro Station Improvements [Lookout News]
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