Westwood/Rancho Park station

Westwood/Rancho Park is an at-grade light rail station in the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system located at the intersection of Westwood Boulevard and Exposition Boulevard in the Rancho Park neighborhood of West Los Angeles. It serves the Expo Line.Although opponents filed a lawsuit to halt construction, they were ultimately unsuccessful in their efforts .Location and designWestwood/Rancho Park Station is located at Exposition Boulevard just east of Westwood Boulevard, between Westwood Boulevard and Overland Avenue. This station is located in Rancho Park, an affluent single-family neighborhood south of Westwood and southwest of Century City. The station location is a short walk from the Westside Pavilion shopping mall.The final environmental impact report included 170 surface parking spaces at this station, with an option to remove all parking for transit users (20 parking spaces would be provided for local residents only). In March 2011, the Expo Board approved the no-parking option. Sepulveda station, less than one mile away, has a parking lot.OppositionIn the Final EIR, Metro staff recommended routing the Expo Line along the Exposition Right-Of-Way through Rancho Park (which includes Westwood Station), at-grade. During the EIR process, a group of neighbors known as Neighbors For Smart Rail (NFSR) organized to oppose at-grade light rail through this ROW. The group claims that this design will be dangerous if built as specified, and that Metro failed to comply with environmental law. Metro publicly disputed these claims, as did several groups supporting the current design.