ENR California will spotlight the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) as the magazine’s 2014 Owner of the Year in the upcoming April edition.

The third largest transit system in the U.S., in ridership, and with 88 miles of track built, Metro is currently building several multi-billion-dollar projects concurrently, all utilizing some degree of design-build and multiple teamwork processes. A recently announced restructuring of upper management aims to fulfill, rather than derail, the agency’s core business goals of delivering projects on time and on budget, maintaining open lines of communication and improving safety and sustainability while improving the L.A. area’s transportation system. 

Current Work

• $1.5-billion, 6.6-mile-long Expo line from Culver City to Santa Monica is scheduled to wrap up in 2015. 
• 11.5-mile Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension light rail project - Pasadena to Azusa reached the half-way point. 
• Metro is managing the $1-billion design-build I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project.  
• Metro and McCarthy Building Cos. are constructing the new $73.5 million Metro Division 13 Bus Maintenance and Operations Facility.

• In January, Metro approved a $1.3 billion design-build contract to the collaborative team of Walsh/J.F. Shea to build the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor project, 8.5 miles of light rail.  
• Downtown L.A. Regional Connector project, a $1.36-billion project set to open in 2020.  
• Metro also approved proceeding with the 9-mile Metro Purple Line subway extension.  Construction for the first section of the project is due to begin in 2014 and be completed in 2023. The three-phase project total is $6.3 billion.
• A request for proposals went out in January for engineering and NEPA support services on the estimated $950-million Azusa to Montclair Phase 2B light rail line extension. (the next leg of the Gold Line)