Six years ago, Metro scheduled a 22-weekend closure of Wilshire Blvd., from Highland to La Brea, to install removable concrete decking panels that would allow Purple Line Subway Extension construction crews to better access the station work area below the street. And now, starting on Friday, April 22 – just two weeks from today – Metro will finally be removing the decking and beginning to restore the street. The removal will follow a multi-weekend schedule similar to that used for the decking installation, but this time the process will be much shorter, taking just 10 weekends of closures from 9 p.m. on Fridays through 6 a.m. on Mondays.
The work will move from east to west (as shown in the graphic above), starting just west of Mansfield Ave., and the final restoration will include the street surface, curbs and sidewalks in the affected area.
In a presentation to the Greater Miracle Mile Chamber of Commerce in March, representatives of Metro and its design/build contractor, Skanska Traylor Shea, provided the following schedule for the decking removal project and its associated street closures:
During the closure hours from Friday nights through Monday mornings, detours will be in effect for both eastbound and westbound traffic along Wilshire.
During the project, trucks and cranes will be used to remove the decking panels and haul them away, as well as for backfilling the space between street level and the station roof below.
And after that work is complete, Metro will rebuild the permanent street surface above the station area.
After the 10-week decking removal and street restoration, Metro will also rebuild the curbs, gutters, and bus pads in the area, including the installation of street lights and tree wells. This work is scheduled to begin in July, and to last for 3-6 months. (Although traffic plans for this phase of the work have not been released yet, it sounds like it will involve lane closures only, and not the full closure of Wilshire Blvd.)
For more information, contact Metro via its Project Hotline at (213) 922-6934, or email [email protected].
