The last 2.3 miles of the Foothill Gold Line have a builder lined up. The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority picked a joint venture of Skanska USA, Stacy Witbeck and Herzog Contracting, known as SSH, to serve as construction manager for the extension of LA Metro’s A Line from Pomona to a new station in Claremont. That segment carries the light-rail line to the edge of San Bernardino County.
It’s a measured start. The board authorized $6.3 million for an initial 18-month preconstruction phase, during which SSH supports the designer with constructability reviews, value engineering, third-party coordination and cost estimating. The design itself sits with Parsons, which holds a separate $60 million, six-year contract for the Claremont work.
A 2.3-mile light-rail extension to Claremont
The build adds a single station in Claremont and ties it into the line that already runs deep into the San Gabriel Valley. SSH ranked highest of four competing teams after written proposals, interviews and cost were scored. Major construction is expected to start in late 2027 and take roughly four years, which puts an opening late in the decade if the funding stays in place.
Why the Foothill Gold Line keeps moving
The Foothill extension has advanced in deliberate phases for years, each one handed off cleanly to the next. Bringing a CM in this early, before final design is locked, is the authority’s way of catching cost and constructability problems while they’re still cheap to fix. California’s passenger-rail program has been uneven lately, so a transit project with a clear scope and a competitive bid is a useful contrast. See our coverage of California High-Speed Rail’s $3.5B track and systems award. Reporting via Railway Track & Structures and Mass Transit.
Related project on Exchange: LA Metro A Line Foothill Extension to Claremont.