Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) CEO Art Leahy has announced he will leave his position, which he has held for six years, later this year.
Leahy, 65, who started his transportation career as a bus operator 44 years ago, will leave the position on April 5, when his current contract expires.
During his time with the transportation authority, Leahy helped secure billions of dollars in federal and state funding to match local transit sales to pay for construction of multiple transit and highway projects, according to a statement from Metro.
Among Leahy’s achievements are keeping Metro solvent through the recession, while focusing on fulfilling the mandate of Los Angeles County voters in carrying out the Measure R building program. Because of this, Metro now has transit and highway projects and programs valued at more than $14 billion.
These projects include five new rail projects under construction including the Expo line extension to Santa Monica and the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension to Azusa, both scheduled to open next year, plus the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project, the Regional Connector that will connect the Expo, Blue and Gold Lines in downtown Los Angeles, and the first phase of the Westside Purple Line subway extension to Wilshire and La Cienega. Metro also received federal approval last week to start the engineering phase to extend the Purple Line to Century City.
Leahy is also responsible for launching a $1.2 billion overhaul of the Metro Blue Line, which runs through Long Beach, and guiding the purchase of a new fleet of rail cars.
He has also played a role in major highway projects, like the I-5 widening to Orange County, and the new 10-mile northbound carpool lane on the I-405 Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass.
Under Leahy’s leadership, minorities and disadvantaged workers have been hired for construction jobs and apprenticeships.
Leahy said in a statement he was proud of the work he did for Metro.
“It has a been a privilege, honor and pleasure to serve as Metro’s chief executive officer the past six years,” Leahy said. “My time at Metro has been filled with enormous successes, intense challenges and opportunities that have and continue to shape mobility for Los Angeles County’s 10 million residents.”