Foothill Gold Line Duarte/City of Hope Station Dedication is a Community Success

Hundreds brave the heat to celebrate upcoming substantial completion of six-station, 11.5-mile Foothill Gold Line light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa

News provided by

Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority

Aug 15, 2015, 03:21 ET

DUARTE, Calif., Aug. 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority (Construction Authority) today held a dedication ceremony for the Duarte/City of Hope Station, the first in a series of dedications to celebrate the upcoming substantial completion of construction for the six-station, 11.5-mile light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa. Today's event was attended by elected officials at all levels of government, transportation officials and hundreds of community stakeholders. The Foothill Gold Line project, which broke ground in June 2010, is on time and on budget to be turned over to Metro for pre-revenue service in late-September 2015. Metro anticipates starting pre-revenue service this Fall, and passenger service in 2016. An opening date has not yet been determined.

Dozens of elected and local officials came together today to celebrate the Duarte/City of Hope Foothill Gold Line Station Dedication.

"It is an honor to be here to thank so many of you here today who lobbied and rallied in support of this project for over a decade and for the men and women who safely built this project on time and on budget," stated Habib F. Balian, CEO of the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority. "This tremendous success is due in part to the grassroots support for this project and the partnership between the Foothill Gold Line cities, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority and Metro."

In attendance at the dedication were dozens of local officials. Speakers included U.S. Representative Grace Napolitano, State Senator Carol Liu, Assembly Majority Floor Leader Chris R. Holden, Assemblymember Roger Hernandez, Los Angeles County Supervisors and Metro Board Member Michael D. Antonovich, Metro CEO Phil Washington and City of Hope CEO Robert Stone. Metro and Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority Board Member, Duarte City Councilman John Fasana, was the event's emcee; and Duarte Mayor Tzeitel Paras-Caracci welcomed everyone to the event and talked about the changes that are envisioned for the area near the station.

"I want everyone to look behind me and join me for a moment as we look into the future," stated Mayor Paras-Caracci. "The Gold Line has provided the city the opportunity to re-envision this area of Duarte with new housing, office space and even the city's first hotel. All within walking distance to light rail and therefore within walking distance to all of Los Angeles County."

The Duarte/City of Hope station is located on Duarte Road, just west of Highland Avenue; across the street from the City of Hope National Medical Center. The station was fully revealed to the public for the first time at the dedication, including the unique artwork created by the Wisconsin-based artist team of Andrea Myklebust and Stanton Gray Sears. Titled "Spirit of the San Gabriel River," the artwork incorporates the City of Duarte's history and culture and includes four hand-carved Indiana Limestone sculptures, each weighing between 3,300 and 3,600 pounds, atop specialty cut metal painted pillars. On the ground below the sculptures are eight-inch-square cast bronze pavers patterned after the orange blossoms, branches and fruit reminiscent of citrus labels used to transport and sell the fruit grown in Duarte in decades past.

For more information on and images of the station, station art and today's dedication, please visit http://www.foothillgoldline.org/news/media-resources/.

About the Foothill Gold Line – The Foothill Gold Line is a nearly $2 billion, 12-station extension of the Metro Gold Line light rail system, being overseen by the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority, an independent transportation planning and construction agency created in 1998 by the California State Legislature. The project is planned in two segments – Pasadena to Azusa and Azusa to Montclair. The Pasadena to Azusa segment is fully funded by Los Angeles County's Measure R and is on budget and on schedule to be substantially complete in late-September 2015 when it will be turned over to Metro for pre-revenue service. Measure R is funding the majority of the cost associated with the advanced engineering and environmental work currently underway for the Azusa to Montclair segment, which will ready the project for a design-build procurement in 2017. The Construction Authority is currently seeking the $1 billion needed to construct the Azusa to Montclair segment.