Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors today approved plans to dig a tunnel under Beverly Hills High School

Despite objections from Beverly Hills city and  school officials,
the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority  Board of Directors today approved plans to dig a tunnel under Beverly Hills High School as part of the Purple Line subway’s extension to Century City and Westwood.

from The Source…

The final route and station locations of the second and third phase of the Westside Subway Extension werDespite objections from Beverly Hills city and  school officials,
the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority  Board of Directors today approved plans to dig a tunnel under Beverly Hills High School as part of the Purple Line subway’s extension to Century City and Westwood.e approved by the Metro Board of Directors on Thursday by a vote of seven to two. Board Members Mike Antonovich and John Fasana voted against.

The approval includes, most notably, a station location in Century City at the intersection of Constellation Boulevard and the Avenue of Stars to avoid building a station and tunnel in active earthquake fault zones under Santa Monica Boulevard. Metro’s experts testified building a station or tunnels under Santa Monica Boulevard would be unsafe.

The Constellation station will require tunneling under part of the Beverly Hills High School campus. That is opposed by the city of Beverly Hills and the Beverly Hills Unified School District.

In testimony to the Metro Board, Beverly Hills city and school officials on Thursday both asked the Board to delay making a decision on tunneling under the school and school officials again threatened state and federal litigation. Officials from Beverly Hills also alleged that the earthquake faults are not active. “You will not succeed and we will stop you at every turn,” said Beverly Hills Unified School District Board Member Lisa Korbatov.

In response to a hearing last week requested by the city of Beverly Hills, the Metro Board in a separate action voted to adopt the findings regarding the reasonableness of the Constellation station and the related subway tunnels beneath Beverly Hills High School.

he findings, posted here, reaffirmed Metro’s previous position that tunneling can be done safely under the high school, among other things. The vote was 8 to 2, with the no votes from Directors Mike Antonovich and John Fasana. A motion by Antonovich for an additional study on the Santa Monica Fault failed on an 8 to 2 vote, with Antonovich and Fasana voting for it.

In the past two years, Beverly Hills officials have alleged: that the subway tunnels would trigger underground gas explosions beneath the school; Metro moved the station to Constellation to benefit a politically-connected developer in Century City, ….Read More…

The Westwood/UCLA station will be located at the intersection of Wilshire and Westwood boulevards. The Westwood/VA station will be on the south side of Wilshire Boulevard, with an entrance just east of Bonsall Avenue, allowing for a very short walk from the station to the entrance of the VA Hospital.

Related Stories:
Metro responds to third report by Beverly Hills on west side subway extension seismic and tunneling issues.

The heated Beverly Hills subway route.