Los Angeles Metro began construction Jan. 21 on the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project, an 8.5-mile, $2 billion light rail line that will run between the existing Metro Expo and Green lines and is expected to open in 2019. The project will also bring Metro Rail closer to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Speakers including DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti participated in an event at the intersection of Crenshaw and Exposition boulevards, site of the first of the project’s three underground stations.

The new line will serve the Crenshaw Corridor, Inglewood, Westchester, and the area around Los Angeles International Airport with eight stations, a maintenance facility, and park-and-ride lots. It will be the first rail service to Crenshaw Boulevard and Inglewood since Los Angeles Rail Line streetcars ­discontinued operation in 1955.

Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, pointed out that light rail will create more than 18,000 jobs over six years while also providing a crucial transportation link, reducing air pollution, and offering economic development and opportunities.

Federal funding for the project includes a $545.9 million loan through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act and approximately $130 million for DOT and FTA. The Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project is also one of 12 major public transit projects funded by Measure R, the half-cent sales tax in Los Angeles County, as well as other state and local funds.

In a separate project, planners at Los Angeles Metro and Los Angeles World Airports are working together to design the Airport Metro Connector that will link the Crenshaw/LAX Line to the LAX terminals via either light rail, a people mover, or a combination of the two modes.

Breaking ground for Los Angeles Metro’s Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project, from left: front row, a construction worker, California State Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, former Metro Board Member Yvonne Burke, Metro Board Member Pam O’Connor, Metro Board Member and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Metro Board Chair and Lakewood City Councilmember Diane DuBois, DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx, Metro Board Member and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Metro Board Member and Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, Metro Board Member and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Metro Board Member and Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA); in background, Inglewood Mayor James Butts and Metro Board Member Jackie Dupont-Walker. Photo by Juan Ocampo, Los Angeles Metro