Growing the Orange Line

The Orange Line is going places.

Brutoco Engineering & Construction, Inc. has been selected to design and build a four-mile northerly extension of the Orange Line from Warner Center to Chatsworth.

The busway currently runs from Warner Center to North Hollywood, where riders can catch the Red Line subway to Downtown L.A. or points beyond.

The Orange Line has been a hit with riders—currently carrying more than 20,000 each weekday, triple the number originally envisioned when it opened in 2005—and the extension seeks to build on that popularity while expanding transportation “connectivity” within the area.

The Orange Line extension project includes four new stations, to be located at Sherman Way, Roscoe Boulevard, Nordhoff Street and the Chatsworth Metrolink Station.

Other elements of the extension include new platforms at Canoga Station and an elevated bridge over railroad tracks at Lassen Street. In addition, the project includes a bicycle/pedestrian path connecting to an existing path at Brown’s Creek, a park-and-ride lot at the Sherman Way Station, expanded parking at the Chatsworth Metrolink Station, bridge crossings over the Los Angeles River and Santa Susana Wash, a satellite bus parking facility, and landscaping and street improvements.

The extension is expected to open in the summer of 2012.

The $82.5 million design build contract awarded to Brutoco is the first to be funded by Measure R, the half-cent sales tax passed by voters in 2008. The overall budget for the extension project is $215.6 million.

Read our earlier story on the Orange Line here.

Posted 2/16/10