Earlier this year, Metro unveiled for potential routes for an extension of the Green Line from its current Redondo Beach terminus to the new Torrance Transit Center. Those four routes may be narrowed down by Metro's Board of Directors later this month, according to a new staff report.
The report, which goes before Metro Board's Planning and Programming Committee this week, recommends two alignments for further study in an environmental impact report.
The first, Alternative 1, calls for extending the Green Line by 4.5 miles along the Metro-owned Harbor Subdivision with an aerial crossing at Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Inglewood Avenue. This option would offer a seven-minute trip and attract an estimated 10,340 daily rider. Construction of Alternative 1 would cost an estimated $893 million.
Metro's staff report calls for the elimination of a proposed stop at Manhattan and Inglewood. The other intermediate stop, planned next to the South Bay Galleria, is not recommended for elimination.
The second option, Alternative 3, calls for trains to travel on an aerial structure across the 405 Freeway before veering south to run at ground-level in the former streetcar right-of-way at the center of Hawthorne Boulevard. Alternative 3 would attract an estimated 10,640 daily riders, with a travel time of nine minutes. Construction costs are estimated between $1 billion and $1.2 billion.
The staff report also recommends cutting a proposed street-level station at Hawthorne Boulevard and 166th Street from Alternative 3, though there would still be another stop at the east side of the South Bay Galleria.
Two other alternatives - one of which called for a below-grade crossing at Manhattan and Inglewood, and the other which called for more extensive grade separation along Hawthorne Boulevard - are not recommended for further study.
The South Bay Extension is currently scheduled to break ground in 2026 and open sometime between 2030 and 2033 based on the Measure M expenditure plan. However, the project is one of 28 which Metro hopes to open prior to the 2028 Summer Olympics. The 28 by 28 plan calls for the Green Line extension to open in 2027.
