After years of planning, an LA Metro committee chose the route for the Sepulveda Pass project: All underground rail, underneath Van Nuys Boulevard. Vote on Thursday at full Metro board.
FILE- The 405 Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass. LA Metro will vote on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, to approve a chosen route for a heavy-rail underground subway project through the pass, connecting the San Fernando Valley with the Westside and providing a no-car alternative to commuters.
Los Angeles city and county leaders, state and federal office holders, transit advocates, business and labor groups came together in a rare show of unity outside Van Nuys City Hall on Wednesday, Jan. 21, in support of a proposed subway connecting the San Fernando Valley with the Westside. The group was building momentum for a “Locally Preferred Alternative ” alignment chosen by the Metro Planning Committee for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor, a $24 billion project and route that goes before the LA Metro Board of Directors on Thursday for a vote. A “modified Alternative 5” was chosen out of five possible routes, which will run heavy rail underground beneath Van Nuys Boulevard in the north, and underground south of Ventura Boulevard near Bel Air and Sherman Oaks for a total of about 14 miles from the Van Nuys Metrolink Station to the E Line’s Sepulveda Station. The route includes stops at the G Line, Ventura Boulevard, the UCLA Campus, the D Line at Wilshire and Westwood and also at the future East San Fernando Valley light-rail Line in Van Nuys. The options for an elevated monorail mostly along the median or shoulder of the 405 Freeway were rejected by the committee. The LPA will be an historic, heavy-rail subway connecting two major population centers of the city of Los Angeles, 1.8 million people in the San Fernando Valley and the city’s Westside. Each day, 86,000 students, faculty, staff, and visitors travel to the UCLA campus.The only way residents can travel to and from these areas is via the 405 freeway through the Sepulveda Pass, the fourth most congested freeway in California, with trips taking 60 to 90 minutes each way. “Anyone who has ever tried to cross the Sepulveda Pass at rush hour knows the feeling I had this morning: Brake lights. A slow crawl. No matter how early you leave, you’re still late. That’s life on the 405 today,” said L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman. Third District L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes the San Fernando Valley and parts of the Westside, also joined Ramen and others gathered in support. “Every weekday, we see over 400,000 vehicle trips through the Sepulveda Pass,” she said. “And San Fernando Valley commuters lost 59 hours every year to traffic delays, just from their evening drive home between Wilshire and Ventura boulevards. That’s a work week-and-a-half of time parents are losing with their children.” The new subway along this route will takes passengers in 18 to 20 minutes, end-to-end. The automated train cars would travel in a single-bore tunnel. This avoids having to build a ventilation shaft in the Santa Monica Mountains, Metro reported. Horvath said the subway has the potential to take about one-quarter of those 400,000 daily commuters out of their cars, off the 405 and onto public transit. Peak ridership is estimated at 124,000 passengers each day, “Most people choosing to use transit instead of personal vehicles creates a commuting culture — a culture of ridership — and brings along all of the social and economic benefits that come with it.” In a study commissioned by Raman’s office, she said the project would produce $25 billion to $40 billion in economic output; 200,000 well-paying jobs. “The ridership would spend $1.7 billion annually at stores and restaurants and entertainment venues along the line,” the councilmember added. The project does not come cheap. Early estimates from Metro say this alignment will cost about $24 billion. Metro has about $5.7 billionidentified for the Valley-Westside project in the expenditure plan in Measure M, a half-cent tax measure passed in 2016, or about 14% of the capital cost. The agency will need federal, state and local dollars to fill the gap, according to a Metro report. “This is the kind of momentum we need to say that sitting in traffic on the 405 is not our only choice anymore,” Raman concluded at the rally.LA Metro Board to vote on extending light rail to the South BayThese 4 Los Angeles County restaurants landed on Yelp’s Top 100 list for 2026Glendale firefighter arrested after woman found dead inside North Hollywood homeTypti, a new sport played on pickleball courts, launches in El SegundoAfter housing nearly 300 people, Los Angeles officials to expand San Fernando Valley’s RV-to-Home project citywideUCLA football breakdown: How the Bruins look at offensive line
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