By Will Brandt
This Thursday, January 22nd, the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce, along with the South Bay Forward Coalition, will speak at Metro Los Angeles in support of the C/K Line extension and the Hybrid Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA).
For several years, the Chamber’s Government Affairs Policy Committee has heard from a wide range of speakers and closely followed multiple phases of the C/K Line’s planning and development. Among the options presented, the Hybrid Locally Preferred Alternative—Metro Los Angeles’s recommended approach in its final environmental impact report—is by far the most cost-effective and least disruptive transportation infrastructure solution.
The Hybrid LPA promises to fulfill local infrastructure needs without the need to displace local residents or businesses. If passed, the new stations will support local economic activity, attract investment, and provide access to jobs, housing, and education for people of all ages and abilities. Consequently, the Hybrid LPA option would provide over 15,000 local construction jobs and over $16.3 billion in economic investment across the region. This sensible approach is a win-win for Torrance and the wider South Bay.
Metro Los Angeles has also outlined the significant community improvements associated with the Hybrid Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA). Along the planned corridor, the Hybrid LPA includes neighborhood paths in Lawndale and Redondo Beach that preserve existing trees and landscaping while providing safe recreational space. The Metro-selected route modernizes the aging freight rail corridor with new trackwork, sound dampening, and upgraded pedestrian crossings, making it safer and quieter than it is today. The alignment would be quiet-zone ready, reducing existing freight train noise and improving safety at current crossings.
Among other alternatives to the Hybrid LPA lies the Hawthorne Boulevard option, which the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce is opposed to. Promising two to four more years of delay and over $1 billion more in funding needs, the Hawthorne option is needlessly onerous and disruptive. Displacement of businesses and utilities is a certainty under this direction and should be opposed in relation to the much more sensible, community focused approach of the Hybrid LPA.
For more information on Metro Los Angeles’s recommendations as it regards the C/K Line, visit their website here to read the Final Environmental Impact Review.
If you would like to support the C/K line and the Hybrid LPA, visit the South Bay Forward coalition website and submit letters of support here.