Subway Line to Open 3 Months Early
City officials say the first part of the Metro Rail Red Line subway will open in June, 1993, three months earlier than expected.
The leg of the subway runs from Union Station through downtown to the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Alvarado Street. Plans for the Red Line through Hollywood will be unaffected. That leg is estimated to open by 1998, Metro Rail spokeswoman Roberta Tinajero said Wednesday.
Metro Rail officials found they could save the time by conducting concurrent tests of several project components, said Ed McSpedon, president of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission’s construction subsidiary, the Rail Construction Corp.
Just before the speedup was announced, however, opponents of the project sent a second appeal to the federal Urban Mass Transit Administration in an effort to stop it. The Hollywood Boulevard Community Council is seeking to reopen public hearings on the plan to ensure that the historic district is not destroyed by the impact of years of construction and the establishment of subway stations.
Critics of the plan will hold a Nov. 14 meeting at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel at 7 p.m.
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