Updated 7:32 pm: The amazing Gold Line--currently stretching in a C-formation from East LA to Pasadena--is extending on its northern side to Azusa (in Phase 2A, under construction) and Montclair (*not Monrovia!) (Phase 2B, in planning). A final eight-mile northern extension (Phase 2C) would get the light rail to Ontario Airport; an alternatives analysis would be the first step in nailing down a route and stations. The AA would cost $1.2 million and while Ontario has agreed to kick in $200K for the study, Rancho Cucamonga officials have said "no, thanks" to both helping fund the AA with a $100K investment and to joining the Metro Gold Line Joint Powers Authority Board, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports. Rancho Cucamonga mayor Dennis Michael and the city council argue that "the preliminary routes only skirt the city," while a Gold Line representative says the stations are not set in stone and RC could end up with one, along with Upland, which is not yet committing to funding the AA or joining the Joint Powers Board. "It's going to cost us money that we don't have," Upland City Manager Stephen Dunn told the Bulletin. "I can't use General Fund, I just laid off people."
But city buy-in aside, what might the end of the Gold Line look like? According to the Bulletin: "There are two routes currently under consideration. One would leave Montclair and follow the existing Metrolink right-of-way to the Cucamonga Creek Channel and proceed south to the airport. The other path leaves Montclair using the Pacific Electric Trail right of way, crosses Foothill Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga before turning south along the Cucamonga Creek Channel."
As noted before, Metro doesn't own the right-of-way for this extension, nor does it have funding, but it wants to open the line up by the early 2020s.
· Meetings Start for Gold Line to Montclair, But What About Ontario? [Curbed LA]
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