Backers, Foes Speak Out on Light Rail

SANTA ANA — Critics and lovers of trains clashed loudly Wednesday at a public hearing on the future of Orange County’s busiest transportation corridor.

Under discussion at the Orange County Transportation Authority’s regular board meeting was a controversial proposal for development of the corridor connecting Fullerton and Irvine that could lead to construction of the county’s first light rail system.

“Rail doesn’t work,” said Bill Ward, chairman of Drivers for Highway Safety, which supports freeway construction as the cheapest way of helping people get around Orange County. “It would be nice if it did, but its time has come and gone. It leaves a trail of red ink that just goes on and on.”

Florence Cavalier, representing the League of Women Voters, voiced the opposing view. “I hope the board approves the concept of a light rail system and moves ahead,” she said. “We should not have to repeat this process again and again.”

The process began in 1994 when the OCTA commissioned a $3-million study to analyze ways to improve traffic along the 28-mile-long, 6-mile-wide area from Fullerton to Irvine. The corridor contains 34% of the county’s residents and 57% of its jobs. About 5.1 million trips a day--more than 60% of the county’s total--occur within the corridor, which touches 10 cities, OCTA officials say. By 2015, they say, that number is expected to reach 6.9 million.

The study by OCTA staff was designed to figure out how to spend about $340 million in Measure M sales tax funds earmarked for developing rapid transit systems. The study recommended improving the freeway system, increasing bus service and building a $1.7-billion light rail system.

While all the recommendations are controversial, the plan for the light rail system drew the most heated discussion from the estimated 25 speakers Wednesday, the last hearing before the board is expected to vote on the matter June 9.

“The staff has ignored the experience [of light rail systems] throughout the nation,” charged Chris Ema, another member of Drivers for Highway Safety. In most places where they have been tried, he said, such systems have failed to attract enough passengers to pay their own way.

Mike Patton, speaking for the local Teamsters Union, agreed. “Be very cautious in considering rail,” he urged the board. “It’s a black hole for funding.”

Others, however, supported the idea.

“This is an opportunity to plan for the transportation needs of future generations,” said Don Bankhead, a Fullerton councilman.

George Gallagher, an Irvine planning commissioner and president of the environmental group the Irvine Conservancy, agreed. “Be more aggressive in support of rail transit,” he said.

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Road Improvements

The Orange County Transit Authority is recommending several options to serve the county’s future transportation needs. A look at the proposals:

1. Monitor private sector efforts to extend the Orange Freeway southward

2. Synchronize signals and add turn lanes on Harbor Boulevard

3. Add one mixed-flow lane and one carpool lane to Corona del Mar Freeway between San Diego Freeway and the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor

Source: Orange County Transportation Authority