The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) received $2.1 billion in federal funding on Wednesday that will be used for construction of the first phase of the Purple Line Extension under Wilshire Boulevard.

Officials signed the funding documents on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. From left are Metro board members Ara Najarian and Pam O’Connor, Metro CEO Art Leahy, Rep. Janice Hahn, Mayor Eric Garcetti, board chair Diane DuBois, Rep. Grace Napolitano, board member Zev Yaroslavsky and Federal Transit Administration chief counsel Dorval Carter. (photo courtesy of Metro)

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and representatives of the Metro Board traveled to Washington, D.C., on May 21 to formally sign an agreement accepting the funding. Approximately $1.25 billion comes from a federal New Starts program grant, and the federal government is also providing an $856-million loan to Metro for the project.

“The federal government’s historic funding commitment is a huge down payment for better mobility in Los Angeles,” Garcetti said. “I want to thank our partners in Washington for helping make sure Los Angeles gets the funding it needs to build our transportation improvements and deliver on the promise of Measure R.”

The grant and loan make up the final funding needed to extend the subway from its current terminus at Wilshire/Western to Wilshire/La Cienega, Metro spokesman Dave Sotero said. The 3.9-mile segment is expected to cost $2.82 billion, and is anticipated to be completed in 2023.

“This is a mega project, and mega projects require federal support,” Sotero said. “This is a federal matching contribution.”

Sotero said the additional portion of funding will come from Measure R, a half-cent sales tax approved by Los Angeles County voters in 2008 for transportation projects. Plans call for the subway to eventually be extended to Westwood, and Metro is currently in the process of securing funding for the final two phases of construction. The second phase calls for the subway to be extended to Century City by 2026, and the third phase to Westwood is anticipated to be completed by 2036.

Preliminary construction work has already begun around the subway route under Wilshire Boulevard, and crews are relocating utility wiring prior to the onset of digging. The next step will be to select a contractor for the project, which Sotero said will occur this summer. An exact date for the start of construction has not yet been established.

”We’re not going to see any major construction this year. It will be next year at some point,” Sotero added. “This is the largest federal commitment to a transportation project in Los Angeles County history.”

The $1.25 billion in New Starts funding will be appropriated by Congress to Metro on a year-to-year basis. The $856-million loan comes through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA), which offers low-interest funding for public transportation projects.  Earlier this year, Metro received a $160-million TIFIA loan to help fund the downtown Regional Connector, an underground light-rail project that will link the Blue Line, Expo Line and Gold Line.