Today the Metro board approved a new station on the already-under-construction Crenshaw Line, just for the purpose of hooking up the Metro system to a potential LAX-bound people mover. The new Ninety-Sixth Street station would only be 0.4 miles north of the Century/Aviation station, but apparently be situated in a better spot to connect to the PM (which will also have one stop each at a consolidated rental car facility and a transportation center, and two to four stops at LAX). The Metro board wants it to be a very fancy stop with all the extras.
A motion from Mayor Garcetti and several other officials suggests that the station be enclosed and have flight information boards and a place for airline check-ins, as well as bathrooms, WiFi service, cell phone charging areas, a drop-off area for cars and taxis, a bike hub, retail, public art, ATMs, LA and LAX visitor info, a pedestrian plaza with landscaping and street furniture, and walkways to Manchester Square. Sounds nice, but damn this Crenshaw Line is getting expensive—after adding the Leimert Park and Hindry stations last year, the pricetag was already $2.058 billion.
It was long thought that the people mover would connect at the Century/Aviation station via Ninety-Eighth Street, but Los Angeles World Airports, which owns LAX, says that's not possible because they're expanding Ninety-Eighth for vehicular traffic (hmmm). The good thing about the Ninety-Sixth Street stop is that it cuts down total walk time from the station to the terminals by about a minute and a half; it will take 8.7 minutes of walking to get from the stop to the people mover to the terminals, according to Metro.
Next up Metro will have to environmentally clear the station, design it, and find funds to pay for it. It's probable they'll use money from the Measure R transit tax that's already earmarked for an airport connection, but it's unclear how much it will actually cost because Metro of all the bells and whistles boardmembers want.
· Metro Board approves new station at Aviation/96th as best option to connect to LAX people mover [The Source]
· Now Metro Wants New Crenshaw Line Station to Connect to LAX [Curbed LA]
Loading comments...