LOS ANGELES (AP) - A light rail line is about to extend across metropolitan Los Angeles to the Pacific for the first time since the 1950s.
Starting Friday morning with the opening of the final leg of the Expo Line, riders can now ride Metro rail from the far-inland suburbs some 40 miles to the sands of Santa Monica.
The milestone fulfills a decades-long dream of public officials and transit fans. Its true test, however, will be whether it can shake up the commuting status quo in sprawling and automobile-dependent LA.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the ride from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica will take 48 minutes. That may hardly sound speedy for a 15-mile trip, but the nearly constant congestion of Interstate 10, the usual car route for the trip, can often take just as long or longer.