SPI Insights

California – LA Metro is expected to issue a request for proposals/qualifications (RFP/RFQ) in October to form a public-private partnership (P3) to design a $9.5 billion Sepulveda Transit Corridor rail project. The corridor would connect the San Fernando Valley to west Los Angeles and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

The P3 project would allow private contractors to compete for the right to help develop the design in collaboration with LA Metro and stakeholders in a Preliminary Development Agreement (PDA). LA Metro would retain control over project decisions, and any contractor-proposed designs would be subject to LA Metro’s environmental analysis.

LA Metro presented four concepts for possible routes earlier this year, and its staff are working on a feasibility study scheduled for completion in fall 2019. At the conclusion of the study, a reduced number of alternatives will be recommended to the Metro Board of Directors for further study during the environmental review process.

Although the feasibility study is intended to narrow the alternatives brought into the environmental phase, it does not prohibit new ideas from emerging based on those alternatives during the environmental and P3 process.

Beginning in 2020, the state and federal environmental review process will evaluate and identify environmental impacts and mitigation measures associated with different project alternatives. The draft environmental analysis is scheduled for completion by the end of 2022, at which time, the Metro Board would select a single alternative for advancement, referred to as the locally preferred alternative (LPA). The final environmental analysis is expected to be completed in 2024, after which the project would move into engineering and construction.

The Sepulveda Transit Corridor is part of the Measure M expenditure plan, with approximately $5.7 billion for new transit service to connect the San Fernando Valley and the Westside. Approximately $3.8 billion is allocated to extend that service from the Westside to LAX. Funding is based on anticipated federal, state and local contributions.