The Exposition Light Rail Transit Line (Expo Line) will travel along the Exposition railroad right-of-way between downtown Los Angeles and Culver City. It will share a track and two stations (7th St/Metro Center and Pico) with the Metro Blue Line as it leaves downtown Los Angeles. It will then travel along the Exposition right-of-way to the newly approved and funded aerial station at Venice/Roberston. Nine new stations will be constructed along the Expo Line route. In addition to the station at Venice/Robertson, the new stations will be located on Flower at 23rd Street and Jefferson, and on Exposition Boulevard at Trousdale Parkway, Vermont, Western, Crenshaw, La Brea, and La Cienega.

The Expo Line will be approximately 8.6 miles in length and parallel the heavily congested I-10 freeway. It is scheduled to open in the summer of 2010. Estimated travel time from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City is under 30 minutes with a projected ridership of 27,000 by 2020. The Expo Line project is considered a “Transit Parkway” that will be enhanced by bike and pedestrian paths, as well as trees and landscaping along the alignment.

Expo Line Environmental Process:
For information regarding the environmental planning process and for access to project documents, please visit metro.net.

Electric rail systems have a lengthy history in Los Angeles, beginning at the turn of the 20th Century. From 1914 to 1953, Pacific Electric’s Santa Monica Air Line provided passenger service between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles along the Exposition Right-of-way. After abandonment of passenger service in 1953, trolley wire was removed and diesel locomotives took over all freight movements.

In 2000, population density for the Exposition Corridor was five times greater than the density of Los Angeles County as a whole. By the year 2020, population density within one-half mile of the Exposition Corridor will increase to 16,629 persons per square mile, almost 6 times the expected density in Los Angeles County.

According to the 2000 Census, approximately 29 percent of households within one-half mile of the Exposition Corridor do not have a car. In fact, existing transit usage within the Exposition Corridor is proportionally higher than any other area in Los Angeles County.

Population on the Westside has risen 23% since 1990 (compared to a 6% increase for Los Angeles as a whole). This rapid growth has contributed to the explosion in Westside commercial develoment and job growth over the last two decades. However, primarily because housing is so expensive in the area, only 30% of Westside workers live there, which means more than 300,000 people communte to the area each day.

The number of workers that drive into Santa Monica from other parts of the region causes the city’s population to nearly double during the daytime, from 87,000 to 150,000. The daytime population of Bevely Hills more than triples due to commuting workers.

According to the Southern California Association of Governments, in 2005 an average of 268,126 vehicles a day drove past the San Diego Freeway at Culver Blvd. junction, an increase of nearly 22,000 since 2000.