The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) joined local, state, and federal officials to break ground on Section 2 of the Metro Purple Line Extension Project that will add 2.6-miles of new subway service to downtown Beverly Hills and Century City.

Metro has begun moving underground water, gas, power, and telecommunications lines to make way for future subway construction. The agency is also conducting potholing, geotechnical tests, traffic surveys, and other preparatory work. Major construction activities are slated to begin this spring when work crews create a launch area for a tunnel boring machine at the planned Century City/Constellation Station. Major work at the planned Wilshire/Rodeo Station in Beverly Hills is expected to begin at the end of this year or early 2019.

Metro has already begun construction of the first four-mile section of subway between Wilshire/Western in Koreatown and Wilshire/La Cienega in Beverly Hills. This initial section is now 30% complete and is scheduled to open in 2023. Section 2 is scheduled for completion in 2025 and the third and final section from Century City to Westwood/VA Hospital is planned to open in 2026 — two years prior to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The entire Purple Line Extension project is based on a three-phase construction schedule, which is expected to include $3.6 billion in federal grants. Metro has established a $2.53 billion budget for Section 2, including $1.5 billion from a federal grant and loan. County sales tax proceeds from 2008’s Measure R and 2016’s Measure M voter-approved transportation measures are providing critically needed local funding to match the federal contributions and accelerate construction work.

A contractor to build Section 2 has already been selected. Metro has awarded a $1.37-billion construction contract to Tutor Perini O&G, a Joint Venture, to build the second subway section.

“We now have the funding and the contractor in place to build Section 2 of this massive transit project that will greatly improve mobility for the whole L.A. region,” said Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. “This project, along with the buildout of the final section, Purple Line Section 3, and coupled with our three additional transit lines now under construction, will create new transportation choices for our customers and move us closer to our goal of becoming the best transit system in America.”

According to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, the Purple Line Section 2 project will create over 20,500 jobs in Southern California.