According to an article in Transportation Today News, Los Angeles has received a much-needed influx of federal infrastructure funding that will allow the city to complete its ambitious improvement plans in advance of hosting the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Of the total $900 million, $709.9 million came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the fiscal year 2024 transportation spending law; these dollars will go toward the D Line (Purple) Subway Extension Project and the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project, reports writer Liz Carey. The remaining $160 million comes from federal grant funding for street and transit infrastructure, including $139 million to improve transportation access during the games.
LA was selected as the host city for the 2028 Summer Olympics in 2017, and concerns about billions of dollars in funding gaps for the 28 major transit projects proposed in the city’s plan go back as far as 2020, but progress has been steadily made since. Carey writes, “Recently, leaders in the region announced the completion of tunnel mining operations on all three sections of the Metro Purple Line Extension Project, as well as the opening of 5.6 miles of new bus priority lanes on Sepulveda Boulevard.”