In July, the Los Angeles Metro reportedly gave contractors a "notice to proceed" with the county's latest rail project—a 1.9-mile light rail tunnel known as the Regional Connector. By joining several existing lines in Downtown Los Angeles, the connector will reduce transfers, improve travel times, and (officials hope) increase ridership. Conceived decades ago, the project entered serious planning in 2004, and the connector is scheduled to begin service in 2020.
Compare this project timeline with that of the so-called Hollywood Subway, which opened downtown back in 1925. Planning for this tunnel, not quite a mile long, took about a year. Construction took roughly 18 months. Even before factoring in the huge cost disparity between the projects—the Hollywood Subway came to roughly $47.4 million in 2014 dollars; the regional connector is estimated at $751 million per mile—the difference in completion time alone is astounding.
