The DEIR for the C Line Extension formally list three options:
1) Metro ROW elevated/at-grade alignment;
2) Trench Option, (using the ROW primarily below-grade) north of the Redondo Beach Transit Center;
3) Hawthorne Blvd. (at an elevated position)
Hawthorne Blvd. is the former home of the 'Red Car Line' which served Los Angeles pre-1950s. The north and south directions are divided by a wide median and skirted by businesses on the west and east, respectively.
The Hawthorne route provides an elevated view to past 190th where it will settle to at-grade level for the remainder of the ride that ends at Torrance Transportation Center.
The elevated tracks would allow all crossing traffic at street level to move unimpeded by train intersections. No noise and vibration issues as the raised tracks traveling down this straight corridor can glide in relative silence without any up-down, side-to-side weight transference.
A new Metro Station would be across from the Galleria, soon to become the new South Bay Social District. Bus lines will have an adjacent stop.
A Hawthorne Blvd. Metro stop across from SBSD will be a natural way to attract ridership to the C Line and give exposure to the project. SBSD project managers have expressed this to Metro. More information about the SBSD project can be found here.
Metro claims to own the ROW. Much of the cost estimate differential between the two routes is based on this refrain. Which makes the transition choices between the two routes from the Marine Station more than a bit baffling.
The Hawthorne route begins with the BNSF freight line but then takes an immediate hard turn to cross over the existing Extra Space Storage business, then run over a Chevron station, cross Inglewood Ave. to then run over two more businesses (Ron Roger’s Auto Services Center and EMI Signs) to get to the edge of the 405, to then tight-rope over a number of other business before crossing Manhattan Beach Blvd. at the 405. This route can not be cheap, as it makes no attempt to use the ROW path Metro has boasted of owning. And rather than avoid obstacles, it confronts them.
The ROW route follows the BNSF freight line across Inglewood Ave. to then go behind Westwood Builders arching across Manhattan Beach Blvd. southward.
By using the ROW route as the transition, not only is the confrontations with local businesses averted, the abutment to the 405 is cut in half. This is a much easier ask of CalTrans with regard to widening mitigations planned for the 405.
Metro's lack of reasoning and transparency makes their choices very suspicious. Why run this route over businesses, which would require land confiscation, to then have to have an extended negotiation with CalTrans? A simple solution exits. ROW to Manhattan Beach Blvd.