Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Tuesday service will stop on the Little Tokyo-Arts District Gold Line Station between Union Station and the Pico-Aliso Station starting Friday, Jan. 8 at 9 p.m., to allow for construction work expected to take three months to complete. The agency will provide free shuttle bus service in the interim.

The new, later January construction start date comes as a relief to roughly 170 traditional Japanese businesses operating in Little Tokyo that stood to lose revenue during their most lucrative time of the year – the weeks leading up to the Japanese New Year on Jan. 1 – had Metro stopped service and started construction on Dec. 4 as previously planned.

But with that potential revenue loss looming, the Little Tokyo Community Council, which advocates for the businesses there, was about to serve the agency with a court injunction to get the work delayed till later next month. Metro made a last-minute decision on the eve of the injunction to delay stopping service till after the Jan. 1 holiday. According to the council, about 10,000 to 15,000 people descend upon Little Tokyo to celebrate the New Year on Jan. 1 and shoppers start preparing by buying items weeks ahead.

Service will be down so workers can move existing Gold Line tracks at 1st Street and Alameda Street in the Little Tokyo area to prepare for tunneling work, Metro said, and so they can reconfigure the entrance of the existing Little Tokyo Gold Line’s southern station. The work is being done as part of the Regional Connector Transit Project.

Metro said that as well as the free bus shuttle between the two stations it will operate a free parking program at nearby lots while the service is down.