Geotechnical Testing Set to Start for Regional Connector

There are going to be some serious logistical issues with regard to the Little Tokyo Station and East/West connectivity. With the current station placement, a rider from East LA (Gold Line) will have to transfer at Little Tokyo to get to Santa Monica, unless there's a new station built at 1st/Alameda.

Unless that station is built, all trains originating in East LA will end up going to Pasadena, and all trains originating in Long Beach or Santa Monica will also have to head north. Is this part of the project?

I'd also like to see an infill station at Flower/Olympic as part of the project. I'm not sure how costly that would be though.

I doubt there will ever be an additional station at Flower / Olympic considering it's only about 3 blocks to another station.

I agree that the Regional Connector should be developed in such a way that all the endpoints of the Blue, Gold, and Expo Lines could be directly connected. Trains should be able to run directly from East LA to Culver City, Pasadena, or Long Beach, etc., etc.

@Rich- As I understand it, there's a wye south of the Little Tokyo station, with the wye legs being (1) to Little Tokyo and Union Station, (2) to Downtown and Metro Center, and (3) to East LA. That allows for continuous east-west travel that bypasses Little Tokyo: enter leg 3, exit leg 2.

At Fifth and Flower, they'll likely bore into the calcified/fossilized remains of the landslide that came down out of the Los Feliz area when the whole of downtown was under the ocean, many, many eons ago. There is a large sample of this rock sitting in the lobby of what once was the north tower of Arco Plaza.

At Third and Flower they might find indications of the huge flood that washed down the arroyo in the wake of the collapse of the water reservoir where Echo Park Lake is now located. That was in March of 1879. It was such that upwards of ten feet of soil/topography in the area of Macy's Plaza was eroded. If one looks at present-day topo maps, they would ask how could the creek have once flowed through what is now Pershing Square? Perhaps they might also find charcoal, remainders of ancient campfires. Or signs that an adobe works once was located there at the bottom of the arroyo. This locale, along with Chavez Ravine: these were the only places that had a huge supply of clay soil and year round water. That is, other than the narrows north of where Chinatown now remains.

They may also come up with evidence of the old river bottom that existed prior to when the Third Street Tunnel was dug thru Prospect Hill. Soil was then hauled in and compacted to form a base for the roadbed. Anyway, that's what Eaton's original drawings show (the construction drawings with which the tunnel was constructed). Amazing that he specified the use of wood for forming the headwalls!

I wish they would just start building this thing ASAP! By the time this is built, the connector would have to be huge to compensate for the future riders!