> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Reviving the Expo Line - URL: https://www.smdp.com/reviving-the-expo-line/ - Published: 2002-02-20T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:03:02.000Z - Author: Andrew Fixmer - Tags: Education, Downtown, #archive-import *City council will address funding sources to make light rail line a reality* Plans for a new controversial light rail line have resurfaced in Santa Monica. Mayor Michael Feinstein wants to discuss new ways of planning and funding an extension to the Exposition Line light rail project by tying together federal, state and county grant money ear-marked for education, transportation and recreation projects. Feinstein said he’ll bring up the issue during the city council meeting Feb. 26. By partnering with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and the California Department of Transportation, Feinstein said the city can possibly bring together enough money to finish planning the extension to Santa Monica. Feinstein said it’s important to decide soon where the line will come in to the city limits and where it will go once it gets here. In June 2001, the MTA Board of Directors green-lighted the Exposition light rail project, which will run from Downtown Los Angeles through the University of Southern California to Culver City. The 9.6 mile line will begin at the existing Metro Rail Station at Seventh Street downtown and run parallel to Interstate 10\. Construction of the $344 million project is scheduled to start in 2004 and take four years to complete. At a meeting last summer, MTA officials unanimously passed a resolution to extend the light rail line to Santa Monica, even though plan-ning and construction could take decades. “We don’t want to get lost,” said Santa Monica Councilwoman Pam O’Connor, an MTA board member. “Because of the current time line, we are far off down the line, but if we do the planning now we can be ready for when the line comes in.” Planning for the subway line has been long and controversial. Many westside cities rejected bringing the train through their town or having stops along the way. Officials said the political maneuvering cost the westside a metro line during the 1990’s, when the MTA approved other metro projects ahead of the line that would reach Santa Monica. Under current plans, Santa Monica’s line would follow the Santa Monica Freeway into the city limits and stop at Olympic and 20th Street, Olympic and 14th, and Olympic and Seventh Street. The line would then continue south on Olympic to a station near the Third Street Promenade. “We were divided by the (Santa Monica Freeway) in the 1960s, and this project could physically re-unite the north and south sides of town,” Feinstein said. “While at the same time providing us — in a built-out city — with an important civic need.” O’Connor said the MTA does want the Expo line to go to Santa Monica, though it isn’t sure which towns it will travel through to get here. And while it may not arrive for some time, she doesn’t want it to wait until the last minute. “The general policy being put out is that the Expo line will go out to Santa Monica,” she said. “Now, let’s do what is needed to get the planning and funding in place to expedite the whole process.” For Darrell Clarke, a city planning commission member and an active participant in Friends 4 Expo Transit, planning is the only way to get the line extended to the city. “Basically we are at the point that gets us half way to Santa Monica,” Clarke said. “Now we need to find a way to go the rest of the way. “Get the planning done and you’re that much closer to building when you get the money,” he added. “The more planning is completed the closer it comes to becoming a reality.” Clarke said after talking with residents, he found the vast majority in favor of having a metro rail line running through the city. “Generally, people are supportive of this,” he said. “We have had tables at festivals and parks, and when people see us they say ‘hey, that would be great.’ “You always find a few opponents, but most people have lived in a city with good service or have visited one and they want that here too,” he said. “The response has been remarkably positive.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/022002-01_01.jpg) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 20, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/022002.pdf?ref=smdp.com)