Palms construction photo gallery
5/21/16 — Opening Saturday, a train pulls into Culver City station (above), and heads west in front of the downtown L.A. skyline and into Palms.
11/7/15 — Palms station is getting landscaped (above) and six trains are parked for the night east of Bagley (below) as testing ramps up.
4/6/15 — Today was the first day of Expo Line phase 2 clearance testing and the first train to operate on phase 2! This LRV was towed to Bagley last night, ran on its own under OCS power up onto the bridge, and now begins its trip west toward the Westwood station, about 10:30 this morning.
Approaching Palms station (above), and current construction status of the station (below).
It fits! Photo by Jeff Zucker/Expo Line Construction Authority via The Source.
7/23/14 — Looking east from Bagley, the eastbound track goes up the ramp to the Venice Blvd. bridge (above) but rails are still being installed on the bridge itself (below). OCS poles with crossarms and LED lights are in place west of Bagley (bottom).
6/15/14 — Looking east toward the Culver City station (above and zoomed below) and west toward Palms (bottom) from the new crossing at Bagley Avenue shows the tracks nearing completion, all the way from Military Avenue.
5/17/14 — Tracks and soundwalls are being installed along National Blvd., and the elevator cages are in at the Palms station (bottom).
3/3/14 — The Venice Blvd. bridge and rising MSE wall on its northwest side.
2/28/14 — Tracks have been laid between the self-storage building and the freeway in Palms (Expo Authority photo).
2/25/14 — The Venice Blvd. bridge is pretty complete, as seen from the Culver City station platform.
2/19/14 — The old National Blvd. steel plate girder bridge has a fresh coat of paint to go with the new concrete bridge.
2/10/14 — MSE walls are rising for the ramp on the west side of the Venice Blvd. bridge, showing the steel grids used to tie the wall panels into the compacted earth fill.
12/26/13 — Early-morning views west from Motor toward the tunnel under the freeway (above) and east across the new Motor bridge before ballast and track (below).
12/26/13 — Motor Avenue's I-10 underpass frames the new Expo bridge in light (above), and the Palms station and retaining wall is coming along (below).
The Venice Blvd. bridge looks pretty finished except for its west ramp.
12/9/13 — With the falsework gone you can see Venice Blvd. between the new bridge spans (above). Old rails and ties are stacked on the right-of-way west of Venice (below).
11/7/13 — Palms Station's rear retaining wall and stairway are taking shape.
11/6/13 — The big bridges over Venice Blvd. are revealed!
11/4/13 — View of the west end of the Venice bridges.
10/31/13 — The Motor Avenue bridge is poured and wrapped in plastic for curing.
10/14/13 — The final step on the Venice Blvd. bridges is the pedestrian safety walk.
9/23/13 — The deck of the left bridge is curing under plastic.
9/20/13 — Concrete is pumped onto the left bridge deck over night.
9/19/13 — The Venice Blvd. bridges are ready for deck concrete.
9/4/13 — Forms are built for the bridge decks (above). Looking west from Bagley Ave. the OCS pole footings, ballast curb, and sub-base are done.
8/28/13 — Motor Avenue was closed for the night to install bridge falsework (looking north, above, and south, below).
8/21/13 — "Stems and soffits" (sides and bottom) of the Venice Blvd. bridges are complete and forms are being stripped on the left.
8/19/13 — Concrete is in place for the left bridge.
8/12/13 — Forms and rebar are complete for the Venice Blvd. bridges' "stems and soffits" (sides and bottom).
8/2/13 — Rebars are drilled into the old Motor abutment to tie in a new face for the new bridge.
7/17/13 — Forms and rebar are well underway for the single-track box beams across Venice and Robertson Boulevards.
7/2/13 — Falsework is filled in except for the eastbound bridge over westbound Venice Blvd.
6/28/13 — Falsework girders from eastbound Venice Blvd.
6/24/13 — The existing Motor Avenue bridge abutments are being extended north (toward the freeway) to support the new double-track bridge.
6/14/13 — Falsework girders span eastbound Venice Blvd.
5/29/13 — Falsework is beginning at Venice-Robertson.
5/23/13 — The bridge is on its supports. We also see the short span above the entrance to the Palms station.
5/17/13 — A series of these small hydraulic jacks were used to lower the bridge onto its supports.
5/15/13 — The handsome National bridge is ready to be lowered onto its supports.
5/2/13 — Forms are coming off the National bridge, showing a simple arch motif (above). Next steps are to remove the supporting falsework and lower it via jacks onto its abutments. Four of the five columns' rebar cages are in place at Robertson (below). One is wrapped in black plastic after being cast, and forms are going onto another. These columns are round to save space.
4/22/13 — Video of the big crane and drill moving to the middle of Venice Blvd. - like watching two elephants walk a tightrope!
4/17/13 — Video of one of the big rebar cages being delivered by truck (unlike Phase 1, where they were assembled on-site).
4/16/13 — The first two column rebar cages are in place (bents 16L and 17L on the plan below), with footings filled with concrete.
4/1/13 — Night drilling has begun with mud flying (above), with the 12-foot-diameter, 100-foot-deep hole for bent (column) 16L completed (map below).
3/29/13 — Drilling of the column footings across Venice Blvd. is about to begin. Note the drill parts left of the yellow crane, the steel cylinders to line the first hole at the corner of Venice and Robertson, and the abutment on the far side of Venice.
3/24/13 — A wide shot (above) and view from the west end (below) of the National Blvd. falsework. Note the existing steel plate girder bridge on the left.
A view from National Blvd. (above), and a detail of the pipes to contain tensioning cables (below).
The new bridge abutment on the west side of Venice Blvd. is complete, power line relocation is nearly done, and column footings (in the Venice median and at the corner of Robertson) will be next.
2/12/13 — The steel falsework went up quickly at night over National Blvd (rajacobs photo, below). Note the completed T-shaped concrete bridge column left of the Road Closed sign above, which was just a rebar cage below on 12/10/12.
12/10/12 — The east abutment is complete for the new National Blvd. bridge, forms are up for the west one, and the rebar cage for the column is visible.
Rebar is up or the big retaining wall behind Price Self Storage, across from Clarington, by the sign, below.
10/3/12 — These three potential designs for the new concrete bridge over Motor Avenue were posted on Curbed LA.
9/21/12 — Excavation for the Palms station is well underway, looking east toward the National underpass (above and detail below) and west (bottom).
9/19/12 — The retaining wall behind the self-storage building is beginning (Expo Authority photo, PDF).
7/10/12 — Tonight's Expo Authority - Skanska/Rados Phase 2 community meeting featured a poster of this new rendering of the Palms station.
7/9/12 — Here's an amazing time-lapse video of the demolition of the old plate girder bridge over Motor Avenue by local cinematographer Mark Morris (watch in full screen and HD)!
7/7/12 — Two days earlier.
Here is a series of "before" photos to remember how it used to look on on the right-of-way from I-10 to Venice Boulevard.
11/29/11 — The plate girder bridge over Motor Avenue looking north (above) and south from under the I-10 bridge (below)
8/4/11 — Looking east toward the bridge (below) from the driveway up from National Boulevard to the right-of-way
5/27/11 — The existing bridge over National Boulevard at Palms Boulevard
7/27/11 — The right-of-way north of Exposition Boulevard, looking east toward Bagley Avenue, where dirt had been piled for the Phase 1 construction
5/9/11 — Tonight's Expo Authority - Skanska/Rados Phase 2 community meeting featured a poster of this "site concept" image of the Palms station.
National / Palms. A new concrete through-girder bridge will be next to the existing steel plate girder bridge. The bridge over Motor Avenue will be replaced with a new concrete bridge.
They also had rolled out plan and profile drawings; note the vertical scale is exaggerated.
Bridges over Motor and Palms/National.
9/29/06 — The "tunnel" underpass below the Santa Monica Freeway, looking north toward Cheviot Hills.
10/98 — Going west from the Motor bridge toward the tunnel felt remarkably like walking in the woods for such an urban place.
2/2/07 — Looking west across the late Motor Avenue bridge.
4/10/08 — A Big Blue Bus passes below the bridge over National Blvd.
c. 1953 — A PE Air Line car crosses National Boulevard (above) and Motor Avenue (below), looking east, before the freeway came through (photos by Ralph Melching and Alan Weeks).
