The 9.1-mile extension of the LA Metro light-rail passenger line from Glendora to Pomona will include 19 new or renovated bridges, so vehicles won’t have to wait at the train tracks.
But there is one bridge being considered that is only for pedestrians and bicyclists and is not included in the train project.
A 510-foot bridge of steel and concrete will span more than 500 feet, taking walkers and bike riders from the La Verne Gold Line — renamed L Line — station at Arrow Highway and E Street and connecting them to the northern edge of the Fairplex in Pomona.
The idea is simple: Give the thousands of people a safe, easy way to reach the Fairplex for the annual fair, concerts or shows by using a pedestrian flyway built above six lanes of Arrow Highway and train tracks. Then, get them back to the L Line La Verne station to catch a train — all without driving or paying for parking.
Last week, the idea, part of La Verne’s plan for its train-oriented downtown since 2013, took a step closer to reality. Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-El Monte, placed $4 million for the pedestrian bridge, part of $27 million in community project funding requests, into an appropriations package.
HR 4502 was approved by a House vote of 219-208, but awaits approval by the U.S. Senate and President Joe Biden.
“This will provide a safe and efficient way for local residents and Metro riders to cross the rail line and access the businesses, jobs, and events located at the Fairplex,” Napolitano wrote in an email.
“You wouldn’t have to walk across that busy street. You get out of the station and walk up the bridge over Arrow Highway and over the train tracks. It is just a much safer mode of transportation,” La Verne Mayor Tim Hepburn said.
Napolitano said the House Appropriations Committee was impressed by the support for a pedestrian bridge, which includes Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority, the University of La Verne, the Fairplex and local cities.
The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments was asked to design and build the project, Hepburn said. The SGVCOG received part of the $1.3 million from a state grant and has begun designing the bridge.
“Of course, now you have to fund it,” he said.
The project will cost $17.7 million, including about $1.8 million for design, $575,000 for right-of-way acquisitions plus utilities relocations and about $15.3 million for construction, wrote Paul Hubler, spokesman for the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments/Alameda Corridor East (ACE) Project, in an emailed response.
Hubler said the project is in the preliminary design stage and the costs are estimates. But if money was secured and construction started in late winter 2023, the bridge would be completed in winter 2025 around the same time the light-rail that originates in Los Angeles would reach Pomona.
Hepburn said the city has not verified the cost estimates. But he is concerned that the coronavirus pandemic‘s effect on rising lumber, copper, steel and concrete prices could drive up the cost of building the pedestrian/bicyclist bridge.
“Construction is crazy and costs are going up and up and so are materials, too,” he said.
La Verne Councilwoman Robin Carder, who sits on the Gold Line board of directors, hopes the Fairplex will chip in for some of the cost. “It will help both the Fairplex and us and it will ease transportation congestion in the area,” she said.
Hepburn hopes the city and the council of governments can acquire “active transportation” funds from the state budget surplus. He called the $4 million earmark in the federal bill “a very positive sign.”
The La Verne City Council will hold a special study session at 5 p.m. on Aug. 16, said Bob Russi, city manager. At the meeting, the city will be presented with cost details and a couple of design options for the bridge, he said.
