Expo Line Phase 2 project developments

[Transit Coalition]

Jul 11, 2012 14:35:29 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

Let's not compare apples and oranges. Phase 2 is being built by a much more competitive contractor, who, unlike the Phase 1 contractor who had no previous experience in rail, has tremendous experience in rail construction.

They will finish all bridges by the end of next year and they should finish most of construction by the end of 2014. When they say 2015 opening, they mean late 2015; so, it will give them plenty of time to work out the train controls and testing. Sure, there are risky items, such as the Venice Blvd bridge, but a late-2015 opening is not unrealistic at this moment.

The section between USC and Culver City is always running faster than the schedule or on schedule. I am sure they will eventually work out the Flower St segment as well.

I had breakfast with Frank Alejandro, Metro Executive Officer, Transit Operations. His next meeting of the day was with LA Dept. of Transportation to attempt to identify how Metro and the City of LA can work together to speed up Expo. The results from this meeting may take a couple of months, but it is amazing that both sides are working to identify fixes to speed up the line. Frank is a hands-on manager and he wants to get to goal. The next time he speaks at a Transit Coalition dinner, I think there will be many accomplishments that will please members of this discussion board. Stay tuned.

[darrell]

Here are some images of Skanska Rados' station rendering posters last night:

[darrell]

And finally, three construction progress photos from yesterday.



The Motor plate girder bridge is all gone. You see the abutment on the left beyond the freeway bridge.



K-rails are up at Centinela, the first bridge to be built. It will use precast concrete girders between abutments, the only precast bridge on phase 2.



And a view of Olympic and 26th, with much of the old hedge cleared out, as a contrast with the second 26th rendering above.

[K 22]

That render of the Palms station is quite awesome.

[Gokhan]

Jul 12, 2012 9:42:12 GMT -8 K 22 said:

That render of the Palms station is quite awesome.

It's going to turn out to be an unexpectedly attractive station. The aerial stations on the Expo Line are not bad-looking but they are quite huge and imposing, and the platforms are 30-ft-high from the street. This quasiaerial, quasi-at-grade station, which is somewhat analogous the quasitrench, quasi-at-grade Expo Park / USC station, seems quite attractive and the platform should be only about 20-ft-high. I think the reason why it's turning out to be so nice is that when you have so many constraints, you spend more time thinking on the design and making it friendlier. In contrast, the typical aerial station is usually built from existing templates, with less consideration to making it user-friendly.

It would also be great if they had an entrance from the nearly at-grade end, but they didn't do that. Rick says that they put second entrances only if there is third-party funding for the additional cost of the additional entrance.

[roadtrainer]

I ran into Expoline fan taking pictures of the motor ave. bridge

[Gokhan]

Motor Ave bridge removal went very well but things went not so well at all today in Istanbul when they were removing a bridge for BRT construction. The bridge collapsed when they were cutting it and very unfortunately one construction worker died and three were seriously wounded.

Watch the video of the collapse at the link below:

Istanbul BRT construction bridge-removal disaster

[Transit Coalition]

Jul 14, 2012 22:24:03 GMT -8 roadtrainer said:

I ran into Expoline fan taking pictures of the motor ave. bridge

Was he hurt?

[Elson]

Jul 12, 2012 9:42:12 GMT -8 K 22 said:

That render of the Palms station is quite awesome.

I think the lighting has a lot to do with it. I agree it looks awesome, but not as much during broad daylight. I kind of feel a similar way with the La Cienega station - kind of plain-looking during the day, but fascinating at night.

[warrenbowman]

I went to the Expo Phase 2 meeting in Santa Monica tonight. It looks like this is going to be a huge missed opportunity to build a great bikeway. Since it is being designed after the light rail line, instead of along with it, there is really no chance at full integration. And since it's being designed around the light rail line, the design options are much more limited. It is going to be squeezed in as simply and cheaply as possible. I also noticed some built in hazards. One example is where the ROW crosses Centinela. The light rail will be grade separated by a bridge over Centinela. The bikeway stops at the intersection of Centinela and Pico, and bike are expected to use the crosswalk. Since its illegal to ride in a crosswalk, bicyclists are expected to walk their bike across the street, or risk getting a ticket. It's pretty easy to see how a lot of cyclists will choose to ride across. If they don't get a ticket, in it's present configuration this intersection will lead to cyclists getting t-boned by cars. Someone is going to die.

There must be a better way to do this. I have not ridden the bike way along the Orange Line. Does anyone know how traffic is controlled to accommodate cyclists there? Is it something that would work on the Expo line?

[regen]

Jul 18, 2012 21:31:46 GMT -8 warrenbowman said:

There must be a better way to do this. I have not ridden the bike way along the Orange Line. Does anyone know how traffic is controlled to accommodate cyclists there? Is it something that would work on the Expo line?

Unfortunately, bike advocates got the shaft on the Orange Line as well. One eminently doable thing to push for would be to force LADOT not to require a signal change request (e.g., pushing a button) from cyclists at intersections along this path. In other words, the signal cycle would automatically include a crosswalk phase; the request button would merely accelerate the cycle or extend the phase. This would allow cyclists to go through the intersection. Perhaps by default any time there is a train movement, the bike phase could be activated as well, although you wouldn't want that to be the only opportunity to cross.

Also, make sure that neither the Expo Authority, Metro, nor LADOT put up signs that say, "Walk Bike" across an intersection. Whether cyclists have the right to ride along a crosswalk is currently a grey area; some say no, others say yes. If signage is installed demanding a dismount, that will make it tougher in the future to get a dedicated bike signal there.

[Gokhan]

Does anyone know why Skanska/Rados is putting these flags everywhere? Vertical-clearance indicators?

@ Bagley Ave:



@ At the location of the future Palms Station just west of Palms and National Boulevards:

[Gokhan]

Final art tribute to the Motor Yard:

[Alexis Kasperavičius]

Jul 24, 2012 19:03:07 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

Does anyone know why Skanska/Rados is putting these flags everywhere? Vertical-clearance indicators?

From lurking Dwight:

Gokhan posted

Does anyone know why Skanska/Rados is putting these flags everywhere? Vertical-clearance indicators?


The Answer IS

Skanska is putting these flags at all Work Zones where the clearance is Low so Construction tucks don't hit the wires

You were able to see this this spring on the I-110 when they were working on the Fast Lanes

[Gokhan]

They started the construction of the Palms Station today. You can see that they excavated the earth and now the buried part of the abutment is unearthed. I am guessing they will soon start building the abutment for the new bridge, which will be for the eastbound track. We may see more excavation and grading before that.





I also noticed that they've graded just west of Venice/Robertson. Perhaps they will build the abutment and MSE section there soon.

[bluelineshawn]

Thanks for the update. Things should get interesting fairly soon.

[Gokhan]

Took these photos at the location of the future Palms Station with my new AT&T HTC One X this morning when I was walking to the Culver City Station. (If the station were operational, it would indeed be very useful for me.)







As you see in the pictures, a lot of excavation and grading is taking place. They will have to build a retaining wall here in addition to a center platform. The existing bridge will be for the westbound track. A new bridge will be built for the eastbound track.

A second entrance on the west end would be very useful but we were told by Expo that they only build second entrances if third-party funding is available.

[Gokhan]

And this one I took walking back from the Culver City Station, also at (immediately to the west of) the location of the future Palms Station:

[Gokhan]

I was told that the ongoing excavation is polluted-soil removal. They will soon start with the MSE walls in this section.

At the Expo board meeting today, Rick told that they are drilling the holes for the CIDH piles of the abutments of the Centinela Ave light-rail bridge. This bridge will be the first to be built, followed by the Motor Avenue bridge. They should both be completed in a few months.

[darrell]

Construction of the Centinela bridge is underway! Here are four photos last Thursday (8/9/12):



Two concrete pumpers were filling the CIDH (cast in drilled hole) footings for the bridge abutment on the east side of Centinela, looking south. Next step is a thick concrete cap over these footings.



Turning more west you see the right-of-way toward downtown Santa Monica.



On the east side of Centinela you see the abutment excavation but no holes drilled yet, again looking south.



And looking toward the east are the rebar cages and right-of-way toward Bundy.

[Gokhan]

Phase 2 is moving full speed ahead. They are starting with the Sepulveda abutments this Thursday.

The only two risks to the project right now:

(1) The relocation of overhead power lines.

(2) Never-ending Caltrans reviews for the Venice bridge. This could be a problem because it's being built by a different contractor (Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Inc) and the main contractor (Skanska/Rados) cannot move in to the area before they finish the bridge there.

[Gokhan]

Heavy construction started at the Palms Station this morning. I am not sure exactly what they are doing but they are drilling and placing I beams.

[Gokhan]

According to a notice posted by Expo later yesterday, they are indeed starting the construction of the National/Palms bridge for the eastbound track next week. They will restripe the lanes and place K rails. The I beams are probably for the necessary shoring activity for the abutment excavation.

Most Phase 2 bridges will be finished by the end of next summer. Unfortunately there are some bridges that cannot be built before they relocate the overhead power lines underground, Venice Bridge being the worst case. These could delay the construction.

The schedule is such that the bridge construction will be finished by the end of 2013 and the rest of the construction, including stations, will be finished by the end of 2014, and the line will open sometime in 2015 after testing and tuning of the signals and train controls, which is the hardest part. This is assuming that overhead lines and the arrival of the brand-new trains won't delay the construction, testing, and opening.

[Gokhan]

It looks like there is going to be a lot of utility relocation at Venice/Roberson starting this weekend:

[Gokhan]

Shoring work has begun at the Palms Station:

[Gokhan]

Shoring work at the Palms Station progresses. They are supporting the northern property line of the Metro Expo Line right-of-way (separating it from the Caltrans I-10 right-of-way) with plates and I beams and it looks like they will excavate the right-of-way. It also looks like they will tear down the southern wall of the bridge abutment.

[Gokhan]

Conservatively estimating, Phase 2 contractor Skanska/Rados is working three or four times faster than the Phase 1 contractor Flatiron (FCI)/Fluor/Parsons. A lot of progress happened in one day since this morning:



The next step is to start building the MSE walls and fill with the granular material.

The construction is expected to be finished in 2014 and the line is expected to open in 2015, unless the relocation of the overhead lines impedes the progress.

[Alexis Kasperavičius]

Here's a nice time-lapse video of the Motor Ave bridge destruction:

[darrell]

Aug 23, 2012 13:14:32 GMT -8 Alexis Kasperavičius said:

Here's a nice time-lapse video of the Motor Ave bridge destruction:

WOW, what a video!! Be sure to send it to The Source and Streetsblog too.

[Gokhan]

Nice. So, you were the guy with the camera. (I was told by the workers that there was a guy with a camera on the other side.)