Gas prices have a 36-cent price range around town this week, with the new Shell gas at 7-Eleven 14-cents higher than the World station right across the street.

Check the list below to see prices at stations closest to you in Arcadia city limits…

• Arco (Las Tunas/Baldwin): $3.59
• Arco (Foothill/Santa Anita): $3.59
• Arcadia Gas (Duarte/Golden West): $N/A
• World (Duarte/Santa Anita): $3.65
• Jiffy Lube (Huntington/Santa Anita): $3.66
• 76 (First/Duarte): $3.75
• Mobil (Duarte/Baldwin): $3.75
• Chevron (Colorado/Santa Anita): $3.77
• 7-Eleven/Shell (Santa Anita/Duarte): $3.79
• 76 (Baldwin/Huntington): $N/A
• 76 (Foothill/Santa Anita): $3.83
• Chevron (First/Huntington): $3.93
• Chevron (Live Oak/Santa Anita): $3.95

By Scott Hettrick

In December, the Gold Line exceeded 1 million monthly boardings and served nearly 40,000 daily weekday boardings, an increase of nearly 30% over December 2010 and 40% over December 2009, according to Metro officials.

During the coming months, crews working on the “iconic” bridge will install the temporary support structure called falsework over the eastbound lanes of the I-210 Freeway. For safety purposes during falsework installation, multiple partial and full closures of the eastbound lanes of the I-210 Freeway will be required. Full eastbound closures will all occur late at night, and the freeway will be reopened by 5:00 a.m. the following mornings.

With pre-construction activities now underway, you will see crews out and about the five corridor cities. To keep everyone updated, the Foothill Extension Construction Authority will be posting and sending out notices of detours, expected delays, and other construction-related announcements.

Below is a video recapping work to date and providing reports on what to expect in coming days, weeks, and months:

Work on the Gold Line Foothill Extension light rail line bridge will soon require up to 20 late-night closures of all eastbound lanes of the I-210 Freeway between Baldwin and Santa Anita Avenues.

Photo provided by Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority

Meanwhile. the two main column structures in the center median are complete. The column “form” was moved last week to the southern shoulder and is now installed around the third column. The abutments are also well underway, and crews are getting ready to turn their attention to the super-structure.nstallation of the falsework will take a number of weeks to complete and some closures will occur on consecutive nights, with all work taking place between midnight and 5 a.m., according to the GLFE Construction Authority.

Photo provided by Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority

The project is ranked by the Los Angeles Business Journal as the fourth largest construction project in the county.

– By Scott Hettrick

The first of the three main bridge columns for the Gold Line Foothill Extension light rail bridge from the median of the I-210 freeway across the eastbound lanes into Arcadia was poured earlier this month.
The “forms” of all three columns were also partially removed as shown in the photo below right. Crews will install the form on the second column by the end of the week.

The $18.6 million “iconic bridge” is scheduled for completion in mid-2012, and is the first major piece of the 11.5-mile $486 million extension from east Pasadena to Azusa slated for completion in 2015.

Other major elements in Arcadia will be a new bridge is to be built over Santa Anita Avenue, and a new train station and transit center is to be built at First Avenue and Santa Clara.

– By Scott Hettrick

Work on the bridge over the 210 Freeway continued this week despite the wind storm of Dec. 1.
Metro Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority CEO Habib F. Balian said construction of the bridge abutments is now well underway by Skanska.
In an e-mail he noted that the photo at right shows the southern abutment’s 18 foundations are now in place; and off in the distance you can see the walls under construction on the northern abutment.

Late in the week the contractor was to pour concrete to complete the structure of the first column. The column “form” (shown close-up in the photo below left is nearly installed. Once complete, concrete will be poured into the form and allowed to cure. The form will then be stripped and moved to form the second and third columns. Later next year the basket aesthetic elements will be added.

Also this month, Balian said the Construction Authority Board will consider an updated Financial Plan to reflect the current construction contract amounts for both the I-210 Bridge and the Pasadena to Azusa Alignment. Although there is no change to the project budget overall – both contractors’ bids were within Authority estimates – the Financial Plan will be amended to allocate contingency amounts appropriately to each construction element.

– By Scott Hettrick