Even as the Foothill A Line Light Rail Extension covering 9 miles in the northern San Gabriel Valley from Azusa to Pomona opened Sept. 19 to much fanfare, the plan to extend the line farther east into San Bernardino County now appears dead for the foreseeable future.
Instead, the eastern terminus will likely be in Claremont.
On Sept. 3, the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority board of directors voted to pull $37 million in funding from the project, saying it wants those funds available for other transit projects around the project’s original terminus in Montclair.
That followed a decision in March by the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority board to reject a construction bid of $994 million from Omaha, Nebraska-based Kiewit Corp., as that bid came in nearly 50% above the $645 million construction budget. At the time, the authority decided to begin the process of rebidding the project.
But even if the project were to be rebid under the same parameters, the bids that would come in would likely still be significantly above the construction budget, meaning the authority would need to seek more money to take the rail extension out to Montclair.
That combination of soaring construction costs and San Bernardino County pulling much of its funding means that for now, the Foothill A Line Extension will be ending in Claremont.
Habib Balian, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority’s chief executive, held out a slim hope that the Montclair extension could be salvaged, but said in an update note to stakeholders that in the meantime, the project must go on to Claremont.
“While it is not the end of the line for the Gold Line to reach Montclair, today’s vote was a significant setback, as it results in the Montclair extension not moving forward simultaneously with the Claremont portion of the final project segment,” Balian said in his note. “In the coming weeks, the construction authority staff and board will discuss next steps.”
One likely next step will be the reconfiguring of the new request for proposals to align with an approximately 1.6-mile extension from Pomona to Claremont with only one new station at Claremont.
Even if the A line ultimately ends at Claremont, it would still be 57.6 miles long, starting from the southern terminus in Long Beach. From there, the A line traverses through downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena, Azusa, Glendora and the most recent segment ending in Pomona. Assuming the Claremont extension is completed, it will end at a station less than a mile from the San Bernardino County line.
According to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is operating the A line between Long Beach and Pomona, that makes for the longest light rail line in the world.
