The Metro Board of Directors unanimously certified the final environmental impact report for the first segment of the Southeast Gateway Line, a 14.5-mile light rail project that will connect the A Line’s Slauson station to Artesia.
With the certification on Thursday, April 25, the $7.1 billion project is expected to qualify for federal grants, backing up the $2 billion of local and state funds already committed, according to Metro officials. It’s expected to open by 2035.
According to Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, a board member who represents the Southeast area, Thursday’s certification vote will enable the 14.5-mile segment of the project — which will have eight stations — to enter the construction phase, expected to begin by the end of this year.
Hahn said 44% of residents along the line live below the poverty level, and that construction and operation of the line will create between 37,000 and 46,000 jobs, and generate $5 billion per year in economic activity.
When completed, the overall 19-mile project — which will eventually include another 4.5-mile segment — will serve 1.4 million residents between Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and Artesia. It will run through Vernon, Huntington Park, Bell, Cudahy, South Gate, Downey, Paramount, Bellflower and Cerritos.
Hahn called the project a “game changer for some of the most transit dependent communities in Southern California.”
“Most of this line will serve equity focus communities that have some of the worst air quality and suffer from some of the worst congestion anywhere in the entire state,” Hahn said. “They deserve high-quality transit, and the Southeast Gateway Line will finally deliver that.”
Earlier this year, Metro renamed the project from its previous — and confusing — name of “West Santa Ana Branch,” saying the new name better reflects the people and cities the line will eventually serve.
Board member and L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis, whose 1st District includes portions of downtown Los Angeles, said the line will connect travelers to the future Southeast Los Angeles Cultural Center.
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“I just want to congratulate you (Hahn) and the people out there, and to the residents,” Solis said. “They are the ones that really deserved the most because they put up with so much for decades — not having a major rail system that is now is going to incentivize that community and be an economic engine.”
Officials from cities that will be served by the line also expressed elation at Thursday’s certification vote.
“This community has been long waiting for rail transportation equity and this a big step today for that to happen,” Huntington Park Mayor Karina Macias said in a statement released by Hahn’s office. “Southeast Gateway Line signifies new job and educational opportunities, and it will change the lives of many in our cities.”
Added Maria Davila, the vice mayor of South Gate, “I represent over 100,000 people, and I can tell you that this project will be an impactful line. As a city we are there to support this project.”
Metro Board member Fernando Dutra, a Whittier City Council member, congratulated his colleagues and said, “Let’s build this thing.”