A small crowd gathered on the median of Exposition Boulevard in South Los Angeles during Friday's morning rush hour to commemorate the groundbreaking of the new USC/Exposition Park Metro Station.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was there to help mark the occasion, along with Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Councilman Bernard Parks and a group of city officials and project administrator.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority signed off on the project's estimated $7 million price tag in September 2007.

"Most of the local community is definitely on board, and all of the elected officials who represent this area are on board for this project," said Gaby Collins of the Expo Metro Line Construction Authority.

"The new station will serve USC and the Coliseum, as well as Exposition Park and all of the nearby museums."

The station is scheduled to open sometime in 2010, part of Phase 1 of the city's $862-million Metro Expo Line light rail project.

The new 8.5-mile Expo Metro Line, which city contractors began constructing in September 2006, will run closely along Exposition Boulevard for most of its route from the 7th Street Metro Station in downtown L.A. to Culver Junction at Venice and Robertson boulevards.

The massive light rail project will include nine new stations along the Exposition Boulevard right-of-way. Project managers anticipate that the line will significantly decrease travel times between downtown and the west side, Collins said.

"Being a director of MTA, I'm a bit prejudiced about this line. But I do expect it will be heavily used and very convenient for people to get downtown from USC and from mid to west L.A.," said David Fleming, an attorney and member of the
Los Angeles County Transportation Authority's board of directors.

In the city of Los Angeles, where, according to the Los Angeles Almanac, almost 50 percent of daily commuters spend at least one hour in traffic every day, quelling traffic congestion is a high priority.

A new east-west mass transit line will be at least part of the solution to the city's long-standing traffic nightmare, according to Metro authorities and Expo Metro Line project officials.

But not all Angelenos are so hopeful for the Expo Metro Line's power to improve their quality of life.

Leimert Park resident Damien Goodmon lives near Exposition Boulevard, but he said he knew nothing of Friday's groundbreaking ceremony.

"They had a - what? A groundbreaking ceremony?" he asked. "No, I didn't know anything about that."

Goodmon has been leading the Citizen's Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line for two-and-a-half years, and it has been an almost non-stop frustration getting officials to hear his and his neighbors' concerns, he said.

"It's not that people aren't gung-ho about the project. It's frustrating because we want officials to be aware of the safety impacts and the community disruption the line will cause, but I have perceived a lack of political will to spend resources on the needs of our community," Goodmon said.

A Metro rider himself, Goodmon understands the need to get more cars off the roads, he said. But building railroad crossings just feet from children's elementary schools and churches is unsafe and unacceptable, he said.

His group has filed hundreds of petitions and is currently conducting a letter-writing campaign to influence the California Public Utilities Commission to reject the city's final proposed crossing at Farmdale Avenue near Dorsey High School.

Despite the city's intent to move ahead with the project without making the changes Goodmon has proposed, he is planning to raise more awareness of his community's issues at an April 4 march to commemorate the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

"I hope it can help bring those with similar interests in our community together to unite our goals," he said. "We'll definitely have a big presence there."

The public utilities commission recently rejected the proposed crossing at Farmdale Avenue, while it approved the only other crossing that was still in need of approval. That crossing will be at Harvard Boulevard near the Foshay Learning Center.

The commission is examining the potential environmental effects of the new metro line. Collins said that since the line cannot be constructed without the commission's approval, Expo will have to re-submit environmental reports to the commission to appeal its decision to reject the crossing.

At this point, county transportation officials plan to move forward as planned with the line construction and with the USC/Exposition Park Station. The station is scheduled to open in 2010, and the line is currently scheduled to reach Culver City by 2011, Collins said.

The project's Phase 2, which is still in planning stages, will extend the Expo Metro line from Culver Junction to Santa Monica near the coast. Expo tentatively expects the line to reach Santa Monica by 2015, Collins said.