The long-awaited subway under Wilshire Boulevard opens, connecting Beverly Hills to the city.
In a moment of public transportation hype, Los Angeles on Friday celebrated the long-awaited opening of a subway extension along Wilshire Boulevard that connects Beverly Hills to the city.
The three new Metro stops opening Friday — Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega — mark the first phase of the long-awaited subway that runs under LA’s most prominent and busiest street, a route long considered the city’s key to public transportation. The new stations provide easy train access to several LA destinations such as recently reimagined Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Academy Museum, and stops just a few blocks from the Grove and Beverly Center.
“This is a milestone for the future of LA,” said Fernando Dutra, chairman of the LA Metro Board of Directors. “I’m very proud of the hard work to revitalize public transportation in Los Angeles.”
Despite the celebratory spirit of Friday morning’s opening — city officials marked the event by walking a “purple carpet” over the Petersen Automotive Museum, where each speaker ended their remarks with an enthusiastic “Go Metro!” – Dutra admitted how long it took to make this project successful.
“We overcame major technical obstacles to build this project,” he said.
And while the D Line’s legacy remains to be seen, Dutra said he’s confident it will provide “a faster commute … and real options for how people get into and around our city.”
More than sixty years ago, California leaders began working on a railroad that would run under Wilshire, but efforts struggled to gain momentum due to severe funding shortfalls, political battles, neighborhood opposition and engineering concerns.
Maybe that’s why Friday felt so memorable.
“Today we celebrate progress, collaboration, and something Angeleno deserves: a city that’s easy to walk in and easy to connect to and build for the future,” Mayor Karen Bass said at Friday morning’s celebration. “It makes our great city much smaller and more connected.”
Three new stops for D line extension make up about 4 miles of the $9.7-billion project, which will eventually run nine miles west, ending in Westwood, near the UCLA campus. The next two phases of the project, which include a total of four new stops, are scheduled for completion in 2027.
It is part of the Southern California rail expansion, which aims to create an efficient public transport grid connecting the scattered communities of LA, aimed at early completion to help visitors to Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
While transit experts expect the densely populated and popular areas along the D line extension to quickly draw ridership, it remains to be seen when large numbers of Angelenos will be ready to ditch their cars and hop on the train.
Metro officials estimate that rail will be faster than driving, with a commute from Union Station to Wilshire/La Cienega taking 21 minutes, while driving would normally take 45 minutes.
“I can’t wait to get on the D Line to Beverly Hills and get my Botox treatment,” said actor Jerry O’Connell, who served as the D Line’s emcee.
And while many potential passengers who spoke to The Times this week echoed that enthusiasm, most also cited other reservations, including feeling wary about long waits at night or ongoing concerns about public safety. Metro has worked to improve security across its network, putting forward a new police force and other safeguards, such as the ambassador system, with real success.
But Metro officials on Friday stressed that they expect the route to become part of many Angelenos.
“We connect people to jobs, to school, to others, and with every project like this, those solutions get stronger,” said Stephanie Wiggins, chief executive officer of LA Metro, on Friday.
D Line trains are scheduled to run from 4 a.m. to about 12:30 a.m. each day, arriving every 10 minutes during most of the day and every 20 minutes at night, starting at 9 p.m., according to Metro officials.
Staff writer Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.
