Light rail plan pushes forward

Lolita Harper

SANTA ANA -- The Orange County Transportation Authority agreed

unanimously to move ahead on a plan to build a $1-billion light rail

system linking the cities of Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Irvine.

The board approved a formal alignment for the project running through

key employment and entertainment areas of the three cities, such as Santa

Ana Civic and Transportation centers, the South Coast Metro area, Irvine

Business Complex, John Wayne Airport, UC Irvine and the Irvine Medical

and Transportation centers. The line is expected to serve 40,000 to

45,000 riders daily, agency spokesman George Urch said.

The authority had been “anxiously waiting on the sidelines” to see if

the cities would support the project, he said.

Construction of the CenterLine project will not begin until a series

of hurdles are crossed, but Monday’s action by the board was a first step

in its implementation, Urch said. The board also voted to take steps to

hire a preliminary engineering consultant and environmental consultant.

In March, the transportation authority supported a $2.3-billion

project, but the agency’s chief executive, Arthur Leahy, decided to hold

off, saying support from various cities was not strong enough. The cities

of Anaheim and Orange offered weak support in March and, as a result,

have been taken out of the newly proposed plan. Under the previous plan,

Fullerton would have been a stop as well.

Costa Mesa Mayor Libby Cowan said the city has long supported a

CenterLine project and was disappointed when the transportation authority

pulled it off the table in February.

“People have to get out of their cars and into some sort of mass

transit system,” Cowan said.Cowan and her mayoral colleagues, Larry Agran

of Irvine and Miguel Pulido of Santa Ana, sent a letter -- dated Sept. 25

-- to Mike Ward, chairman of the transportation authority, encouraging

the agency to revisit the mass transit issue.

“We strongly believe that our population growth, economic vitality and

quality of life will necessitate the developmentof a balanced

transportation system in Orange County, which offers alternatives and

real choices to our residents,” the letter read.

The mayors also outlined a proposed route running from the Irvine

Transportation Center along San Diego Creek to the South Coast Metro area

in Costa Mesa that would link to the Santa Ana Transportation Center, the

letter stated.

Only 1 1/2 miles of the 20-mile line would run through Costa Mesa, but

the city’s involvement in the project is key, Cowan said.

“We are in a unique situation here,” said Cowan, while discussing the

CenterLine project at a Sept. 17 council meeting. “No one else can have

one without us, but we can’t be one all by ourselves.”

Stephanie Barger, executive director of Earth Resources in Costa Mesa,

warned against building a system without the support of neighboring

cities.

“We need to have all transportation officials around the same table,

making sure people are communicating and coming up with the best overall

solution to our transportation problems,” Barger said.

Although Southern California is “20 years behind the rest of the

world” as far as transportation is concerned, it is not productive to

implement a variety of small projects if they don’t all work together in

a unified, regional system, she said.

If all goes according to plan, construction of the rail system would

begin in two years, Urch said. The transportation authority would first

have to gain approval from the Federal Transit Administration and then

begin preliminary engineering work, Urch said.

Then, community outreach will be done to determine possible locations

of stations and whether the rails should be at grade or above ground, he

said.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .