Just before ringing in 2018, the folks at Metro offered us - along with architectural photographer Hunter Kerhart - a look inside the Crenshaw/LAX Line.

The $2-billion light rail line, now under construction, will run along an approximately 8.5-mile route linking the Green Line and Los Angeles International Airport to the Expo Line via communities such as Westchester, Inglewood, Park Mes Heights and Leimert Park. A substantial portion of the line traverses a historic freight rail right-of-way - the Harbor Subdivision - before it turns north to follow the path of a former "Yellow Car" line on the Los Angeles Railway.

We took a look at two specific stops: the subway terminus at Expo/Crenshaw Station (which will eventually become the starting point to an extension north towards Hollywood) and the at-grade Downtown Inglewood Station, as well a neaby bridge across La Brea Avenue.

Construction of the Crenshaw/LAX Line is now 75 percent complete, with operations expected to commence in 2019. By 2035, it is expected to draw more than 27,000 daily riders.

The project has not unexpectedly spurred significant talks of new development along its corridor, with a smattering of affordable and market rate projects emerging within the past several years. These include joint developments with Metro - planned at the Expo/Crenshaw terminus and at Fairview Heights Station - as well as private ventures such as District Square and the proposed revamp of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza shopping mall.

Additional projects could be on the way as Inglewood pursues new zoning and landuse regulations near its Crenshaw/LAX Line stops, and as the LAX consolidated rental car facility clears numerous industrial properties along Aviation Boulevard.