Metro Purple Line Subway Being Extended

Metro Purple Line is being extended.

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Two tunnel-digging machines that will bore through the ground to create a path for the Metro Purple Line subway under Wilshire Boulevard were unveiled today.

The tunnel-boring machines were given the names ``Elsie'' and ``Soyeon,'' chosen from among entries submitted by Southland students.``Elsie'' is named for Elsie Eavers, the first woman elected as a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, according to Metro. ``Soyeon'' is named for female astronaut and mechanical engineer Yi Soyeon, whose name means ``bright'' and ``beautiful.''

The machines, each weighing about 1,000 tons, will be fully assembled at Wilshire and La Brea Avenue, and they will dig twin tunnels toward the east to the Wilshire/Western Station, where the Purple Line currently ends. The machines will then be moved back to La Brea, and they will dig west toward Beverly Hills.

The tunneling work is expected to begin later this summer. The Purple Line extension from Wilshire/Western to Wilshire and La Cienega Boulevard is scheduled to be completed in 2023. The line will then be extended to Beverly Hills and Century City, and ultimately to the West Los Angeles VA property near Westwood. 

The overall extension will include seven new stations along the Wilshire corridor.

``The Wilshire corridor has the highest population and employment density of any transportation corridor in Los Angeles,'' Mayor Eric Garcetti said. 

``For all the people who live and work here, the Purple Line extension will create faster, more convenient ways to get to work and get back home to their loved ones. You can even eat your way from downtown to the beach along Wilshire Boulevard.''


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