On time and on budget, the $1.5 billion Foothill Gold Line light rail extension from Glendora to Pomona reached substantial completion today. The 9.1-mile rail line addition connects the four furthest-east stations on the Metro A Line, those in the cities of Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne and Pomona. The design-build contract was completed by Kiewit-Parsons, as part of a joint venture involving the two companies, over the last five years. The contract involved all elements of the light rail project, including construction of four new stations and associated parking facilities, 19 bridges, 21 at-grade crossings, the light rail system – including the track, power, train control, communications and safety systems – nine miles of relocated freight track, 10 miles of decorative retaining walls and sound walls, and more.
Metro officials used the term “substantial completion,” meaning that the Glendora-to-Pomona portion of the system is now ready to be turned over to Metro for final testing, training and preparation for passenger service, among other tasks that will take place in the months ahead. This milestone follows months of testing of the new systems by the Metro Rail Construction Authority and Kiewit-Parsons, and determination that the new extension is safe to operate. An opening date has not yet been determined; Metro will announce the date in the future.
“The Kiewit-Parsons team did an outstanding job designing and constructing the light rail project, despite significant and unprecedented challenges,” stated Gold Line Construction Authority CEO Habib F. Balian. “It is unusual for a large infrastructure project to come in on time and on budget, but Kiewit-Parsons was partners with the construction authority from the start and found ways to innovate and keep the project moving through the COVID-19 pandemic, historic heatwaves and historic rains. I am pleased to say that we not only completed the project on time and on budget – we ended as partners.”
“Reaching substantial completion is an important achievement for the entire team at the Construction Authority, Metro, our contractors and our corridor cities,” added Balian. “We are proud to be the first light rail project funded by Measure M to have broken ground and to now be completed, and we look forward to handing the project over to Metro as they prepare to put the extension on-line later this year.”
The design-build contract for the Foothill Gold Line from Glendora to Pomona was executed in October 2019, and major construction on the project began in July 2020 after several months of final design work. Over the last five years of design and construction, the team logged more than 2.6 million work hours and completed the project with an excellent safety record.
Los Angeles County’s Measure M half-cent sales tax provided the majority of funding for the project, along with nearly $100 million of residual funds from the Measure R half-cent sales tax not used to complete the now-operational Pasadena to Azusa segment. Additionally, the project was awarded a nearly $300 million grant through CalSTA’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) in 2018. The majority of the TIRCP grant funds have been used to complete the Glendora to Pomona segment, with approximately $40 million set aside for the final project segment from Pomona to Montclair. In 2021, the project was also awarded a $650,000 grant from CalRecycle to use tire-derived aggregate as part of the project. As a result, approximately 548,200 tires were recycled and utilized to reduce noise in areas along the project corridor where noise impacts were identified and could be reduced through this effort.
The Gold Line, consisting of two tracks which accommodates one train moving essentially west to east and the other running east to west, is a dedicated passenger transport system currently extending from Downtown Los Angeles to Azusa. It uses light cars and fuel-efficient engines, with staggered departures and arrivals of as little as every ten minutes during peak commuting times.
At present, the furthest westward extension of the Gold Line is to Azusa. The first westbound departure on weekdays from the station at Azusa Pacific College occurs at 3:14 a.m., with the final westbound departure at 14 minutes after midnight. The route stops include Irwindale, Duarte, Monrovia, Arcadia, Sierra Madre Villa, Allen Avenue in Pasadena, Near Central Park in Pasadena, South Pasadena, Highland Park, Heritage Square and Union Station. The entire commute lasts an average of 48 to 49 minutes. The first eastbound departure from Union Station on weekdays occurs at 4 a.m., with the final eastbound departure from that location at 12:50 a.m. The route stops include the stations used for westbound travel in reverse order. The commute lasts on average 48 to 49 minutes. The Gold Line is heavily used, with its cars nearing capacity on virtually every run between the 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and between 4 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.
The next phase of construction on the Gold Line, now that it has reached Pomona, is the line extension to Claremont.
Ultimately, there is a plan to extend the Gold Line through lower San Bernardino County to Yucaipa and ultimately into Riverside County to as far as Palm Springs. That eventuality is not likely to be realized until the latter half or latter third of the 21st Century.
The effort to extend the Gold Line into San Bernardino County from Claremont was suspended and put on hold more than four years ago at the recommendation of San Bernardino County’s transportation czar, Raymond Wolfe.
San Bernardino County’s Transportation Agency, which bears the somewhat predictable name the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority or its acronym SBCTA, had been, more than a decade ago, while it was yet known as the San Bernardino Association of Governments, been committed to the concept of having the Gold Line extend into San Bernardino County, with what was then a foreseeable goal of extending it to Ontario International Airport.
In 2019, however, at the October 10, 2019 SBCTA transit committee meeting, San Bernardino County Transportation Authority Chief Executive Officer Raymond Wolfe proposed putting the kibosh on the Gold Line making the first leg of its progression to Ontario Airport, consisting of constructing the dual tracks one-and-a-quarter miles from Claremont to the Montclair Transit Station. When the matter was put before the 12-member panel, eight of the transit committee’s members – Third District San Bernardino County Supervisor Dawn Rowe and Rancho Cucamonga Mayor Lloyd Dennis Michael, then-Big Bear Councilman Bill Jahn, then-Yucaipa Councilman David Avila, Highland Councilman Larry McCallon, Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren, Colton Mayor Frank Navarro, and Rialto Mayor Deborah Robertson – voted to back Wolfe. Only Montclair Mayor John Dutrey, Ontario City Councilman Alan Wapner and Chino Hills Mayor Ray Marquez opposed his plan to scrub the county’s support of the Gold Line.
The October 10, 2019 transit committee vote included a motion to have SBCTA return $41 million the authority had be provided to carry out that construction effort in the form of a State of California Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program grant.
Moreover the vote sent a signal to the governor and the state legislature with regard to earmarking any future funding for the Gold Line extension into San Bernardino County.
That unfortunate chapter with regard to the future of light-rail commuting San Bernardino County persisted for more than four years, as the plans to take the Gold Line beyond Claremont lay dead, or at least dormant.
On July 8, 2024, largely at the instigation of Los Angeles County transportation officials and the importuning State Senator Anthony Portantino and Assemblyman Chris Holden, both of whose districts lie primarily in Los Angeles County but which overlap into western San Bernardino County, the California State Transportation Agency earmarked just under $500 million to be used to extend the Gold Line into San Bernardino County.
The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority is now back on board for a light rail ride between Claremont and Montclair. Completion of that project is about three years away, awaiting the Gold Line reaching Claremont, at which point the constructing the line through to Montclair can begin. At this point, $80 million has been set aside by the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority for the project. Many San Bernardino County officials are lamenting the 2019 decision to surrender the $41 million California Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program grant back to Sacramento.