The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority (whew) is working hard to keep the proposed extension to Montclair from going off the cliff. The Construction Authority, currently extending the light rail from Pasadena to Azusa, held a meeting on Wednesday with a few dozen officials to remind them the project is moving along and just about ready to go (it only needs money). (It's advancing to conceptual engineering in the next few months, which is the last step before pre-construction and work begin.) There was some bad blood between the Authority and Metro, which would operate the line, because the latter said recently that there were not enough receipts from 2008's Measure R sales tax to pay for the extension to Montclair, but now things seem on the mend a bit--the Authority announced today in a release that they are "working with Metro to seek the nearly $1 billion needed complete the Foothill Extension to Montclair."

But money wasn't the main topic of conversation at Wednesday's meeting, it was more about getting officials jazzed for the 12.3-mile line and preparing them for the engineering phase. Cities along the route were even told what choices they had for colors and materials used in the stations. "We want the cities to understand what they can expect during the next phase of work for the project," Construction Authority CEO Habib Balian told the crowd. "We want them to start envisioning what their station could look like, as well as what they can be doing now to plant the seeds for future land development and connectivity to local points of interest from their future stations."

· Gold Line Foothill Extension Archives [Curbed LA]