During the January 14 Claremont City Council meeting, member Ed Reece, chair of the Foothill Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, recognized a historic milestone for the Metro A Line extension project: the completion of light railway construction between Azusa, Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne and Pomona.

The $1.5 billion, four-station light rail project has reached substantial completion and was on time and on budget, according to a January 3 Construction Authority news release. The project is poised to be turned over to Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for testing, training, and other tasks before final approvals by the California Public Utilities Commission.

“It’s good news,” Reece said. “And hopefully they’ll move into revenue operations, or it’ll be operating for the community probably mid-year.”

In 2019, Kiewit-Parsons Joint Venture and the Construction Authority inked a multi-million dollar million contract that included the construction of the four new light rail stations and subsequent systems and testing, parking facilities, relocation of freight track, 19 bridges, 21 at-grade street crossings, 10 miles of sound and retaining walls, fencing, and more. Construction began in mid-2020 and after some 2.6 million work hours, is now complete.

Project funding for the 9.1-mile extension was provided by Los Angeles County’s Measure M sales tax, residual funds from Measure R not used on the Pasadena to Azusa segment, and grants from California State Transportation Authority’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program and CalRecycle.

After the Foothill Gold Line segment opens, attention will shift further east as the Construction Authority works to connect Pomona, Claremont, and Montclair via the same Metro A Line light rail extension.

In November 2024 the Construction Authority and Metro ratified a $798 million funding agreement amendment that effectively funded the remaining 3.2-mile, two-station (Claremont and Montclair) construction project of the Metro A Line extension project. A majority of that project’s funding comes from California Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program grants.