After 4 years of patience, alternative routes and waiting Crenshaw Blvd is back open for traffic, while construction continues. Metro broke ground on the Crenshaw line in early 2014, and at the time had forecast it to open in Fall 2019.
For the past few years, Metro staff have been reporting that Crenshaw has been 80 or 100 or 120 days behind schedule, and the agency has dipped into contingency funds to try to stem schedule creep. As recently as September, Metro construction staff reported that the project was approximately five months behind, but declined to state a projected completion date.
Boardmember Jacqueline Dupont-Walker expressed deep concerns that this delay would seriously impact Crenshaw businesses during the holiday season.
Phil Washington, Metro CEO, reported that construction is ninety percent complete, but “four to six months” behind schedule. Metro had targeted the project to reach “substantial completion” in May 2019, after which Metro would test and train, typically for roughly six months, before opening the line to the public. Per Washington, the substantial completion date is now expected to be December 2019 (seven months behind schedule.) Metro will “expedite testing” and open to the public around May or June 2020.
