The decking at the Beverly Hills station has been completed 7 months early.
The Metro managed to expedite constructions on the Purple Line Extension project, this was thanks to traffic drastically dropping during the lockdown, allowing the city of Beverly Hills to close a section of Wilshire Boulevard off. This gave Metro a unique opportunity to complete the decking for its planned Purple Line Extension subway station at Wilshire/Rodeo seven months ahead of schedule.
The three-and-a-half-block closure of Wilshire between Crescent and El Camino were reopened on June 14 after over two months of construction work, according to a post from Metro’s The Source.
“Wilshire Boulevard will probably never again see the light traffic conditions that resulted from our county’s recent safer-at-home order. Metro struck while the iron was hot and did our work quickly and efficiently,” said City of Inglewood Mayor and Metro Board Chair James T. Butts. “We saved countless local businesses and residents from significant decking construction impacts that could have lasted until early 2021. It is a testament to how city and county governments can partner effectively even during a crisis. ”
The decking is a construction process whereby the road is excavated and replaced with a temporary one so that work can continue below it without interfering with traffic above.
Decking work was only planned to begin between August 2020 and January 2021, with Wilshire only closing over the weekends. However, Beverly Hills approved Metro’s request for an earlier closure in late March when the Stay at Home Order went into place effectively leaving the streets abandoned.
The Wilshire/Rodeo and Century City stations are expected to open in 2025. Although, Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax, and Wilshire/La Cienega stations, are expected to open in 2023.
Featured Image; Metro, The Source