https://www.claremontlincoln.edu/we

Monday, May 14 @ 12:00 pm

The Foothill Gold Line light rail extension from Glendora to Montclair broke ground in December 2017. The first few years of the project is being spent relocating utilities along the 12.3-mile rail corridor and hiring the design-build team to build the $1.5 billion, six-station project.

The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority (the agency responsible for overseeing the project) is currently underway with a multi-step, competitive process to hire the design-build team. Already, the initial seven interested teams have been narrowed to the four most qualified. These four will propose on the project, and the team providing the best value will be hired (the contract award is anticipated in October 2018). The winning bidder will spend the first year finalizing the engineering drawings and preparing a construction schedule. Major construction is expected to begin in 2020 and take six years.

Major changes expected in the city of Claremontwill include a new light rail station located approximately where the current Metrolink station is located today (just west of College Avenue). The existing Metrolink station will be relocated east of College Avenue, and the existing Metrolink parking lot will be expanded to provide parking for both the Gold Line and Metrolink riders within a parking structure. The freight/Metrolink tracks that run in the center of the rail corridor today will be relocated throughout the city of Claremont to the southern half of the rail corridor, making room for the light rail system to be built in the northern half. While they will share a rail corridor, Gold Line trains and Metrolink/freight trains do not share tracks or stations.

A new bridge will be built over Indian Hill Boulevard for Gold Line trains only, as required by the California Public Utilities Commission for safety. The Construction Authority is working with the city on the design for the bridge. The Metrolink/freight tracks will continue to cross Indian Hill Boulevard at street level. All other rail crossings in the city will be at street level and result in permanent safety improvements (raised medians, red curb and turn restrictions within 100 feet of the rail corridor) installed to protect the rail corridor when a train is approaching. Fencing and walls will be built along the entire rail corridor, and new overhead lines will be installed to power the more than 200 Gold Line trains anticipated to serve the city each day.

To learn more and sign up for project updates, visit: www.foothillgoldline.org.