Will Gold Line be a Short Line? Metro Not Providing Money to Lay Track to Claremont

The Metro is not allotting any more money to complete the Gold Line to Claremont, though it is providing more money to extend other lines, according to Habib Balian, spokesman for the Construction Authority for the Metro Gold Line.

Balian writes:

"We are extremely disappointed to see the draft updated Expenditure Plan just released by Metro. An updated expenditure plan is required by AB1446 for the proposed permanent extension of Measure R. AB1446 requires that the new Expenditure Plan include updated total cost estimates for the completion of each Measure R project (as defined in AB1446), as well as updated funding years and completion dates.
 
"Despite the fact that the Construction Authority submitted an expenditure plan for the project defined in Measure R ('Pasadena to Claremont'), Metro ignored both the statutory definition of the project as well as its estimated total cost of completion. In fact Metro did not adjust the total cost estimate beyond what has been assumed for the last few years.  This amount is not nearly enough to complete the voter-mandated project from Pasadena to Claremont and therefore does not meet the requirements set out in AB1446.
 
"As a comparison, Metro added a significant amount to the total cost estimates for a number of other projects:
 
· $1.65 billion was added for the I-405 Corridor
 
· Nearly $1 billion was added for the Westside Subway
 
· $500 million was added for the West Santa Ana Branch Corridor
 
· Just under $200 million was added for the Gold Line Eastside Extension"
 
Source: Press release from Habib Balian
 
- Brad Haugaard

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