Following legal challenges, LACMTA releases second environmental impact document

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) last week released a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (DSEIS) for the Regional Connector Transit Corridor Project, an underground light-rail project that will connect the system's existing Gold, Blue and Expo lines.

The DSEIS was prepared after some downtown business owners sued LACMTA for not properly analyzing why cut-and-cover tunneling was being done on a stretch of track along Flower Street, according to The Source, the agency's blog.

The main concern was that construction could harm business. A judge later ruled "largely in favor of [LACMTA]," but subsequently ordered the agency to release a second environmental study more adequately explaining why other tunneling methods were not being used, officials said in the blog.

The study doesn't change the Regional Connector's route, or the tunneling method chosen for Flower Street between 4th and 7th streets.

The $1.427 billion project will add 1.9 miles of underground light-rail to the agency's system, in addition to three new stations. It is scheduled to open in 2020.