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Now that we have a spiffy new stadium in the works and at least one NFL team on its way, Metro is working on plans to make it easier to get there without a car.
The Rams (and maybe Chargers?) will be playing at the Expo Line-adjacent LA Coliseum starting this year. Even Santa Monicans won't have to drive! But when the NFL moves to the new Inglewood Stadium in 2019, the nearest Metro Station will be a 1.5-mile walk from the Downtown Inglewood Station at Florence Avenue and Market Street, which is scheduled to open in 2019. That stop will be a part of the Crenshaw/LAX line that will connect the Expo Line to the Green Line. Here's a map showing how the line is pretty far afield from the site of the future stadium (which we've starred).
Metro (PDF) is using the new stadium project—which also includes big plans for shopping, office space, homes, hotels and parks—as an opportunity to reconsider future light rail plans, Urbanize LA notes.
The South Bay Transit Corridor Rail Project is getting a second look. The Green Line currently ends in Redondo Beach, and there were plans to extend it all the way to Torrance. But with the stadium in play, there is talk of a new route to Torrance that would start from Florence Avenue instead (Metro does not say which stop in particular). It would run along Prairie Avenue and stop at the western edge of the stadium. Metro says, "This alignment would directly link both the Crenshaw/LAX Line and the Green Line to this new economic center and extend south to serve the South Bay all the way to the City of Torrance."
But Urbanize points out that trains won't be stopping at the stadium any time soon: the South Bay Line is scheduled to break ground in 2035, though a transit ballot measure could speed up the process. Metro will discuss plans for the line this week.
In the meantime, Metro is also working on another more immediate plan to make it easier for fans to go car-free. There will likely be a shuttle taking fans to games, the same way there are shuttles for the Rose Bowl and Dodger Stadium.
