Gold Line bridge is in need of repair

No one has been hit by the debris, but transit officials acknowledge the potential danger to pedestrians near the station.

Black webbing has been hung under the Gold Line bridge from Union Station to Chinatown to catch falling rubble (it's also provided a nesting place for pigeons). Workers routinely survey the $21-million bridge for signs of new damage. Two more cracks have recently been detected.

Transit officials don't know what went wrong or how to fix it. But they insist the 14-mile light-rail line linking downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena is safe to ride.

After months of finger-pointing between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Pasadena Gold Line Construction Authority over who was responsible for repairing the bridge, the MTA has agreed to make the necessary repairs.

The joint venture that designed and built the bridge was dissolved after completing its portion of the work six years ago. Neither the Gold Line Construction Authority, which built the commuter rail line, nor the MTA, which has operated the line since July 2003, wanted to take the lead in fixing it. Each said the other was responsible.

No one is sure when the work will begin.

"Until we know what the cause is, we can't really come up with a fix," said Rick Thorpe, the MTA's chief capital management officer.

Whatever the cause, transit officials estimate the repairs could cost as little as $50,000, a small fraction of the railway's $450-million price tag.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who's also chairwoman of the MTA, warned transit officials in October that the falling concrete presented "a grave danger to the public."

The transit agency, also known as Metro, has hired an engineer to evaluate the bridge's design and offer a second opinion. A report is expected soon.

Today, passersby can look up at the tracks from the sidewalk at Alameda and College streets, near the ticket machines, and see pieces of fallen concrete in the netting.

A quarter-mile bridge runs from Union Station to a point several yards past the Chinatown station, where the tracks then run at street level most of the way to Pasadena.