Trees Get the Axe to Make Way for Gold Line

Workers will cut down several old oak trees to make way for the Gold Line extension. If left untouched, the trees would impede the path of the Gold Line trains that will one day run through Arcadia.

"The right of way has to be completely cleared," Metro Gold Line Construction Authority spokeswoman Lisa Levy Buch said. "But we go beyond what is the minimal requirement for replacement of trees."

Metro will plant two trees for every one it cuts down; it is unknown how many trees will get the axe. The bulk of the removal will take place within the railroad corridor from the Gold Line Bridge over the eastbound lanes of the 210 Freeway (west of Colorado Boulevard), to Santa Anita Avenue.

"The growth of these trees is partially due to the neglected railroad maintenance over the years  since the last train ran on the [Santa Fe] :ine in 1994," Arcadia City Engineer Philip Wray said. "Had the rail line continued to be in service, the trees would have never grown so large."