Grand Opening: Orange County's new light rail system launches
Submitted by Steven on 15 November, 2009 - 5:00am
The ride is smooth, and even better. Crowds have turned out in mass for OCTA's CenterLine Phase I project — an 11.4-mile elevated light rail system running from the City of Santa Ana, through Costa Mesa, to Irvine — is finally ready for its grand opening in 2009. The project is just the start for the county-wide system. It currently links UC Irvine, Irvine Business Complex, John Wayne Airport, South Coast Plaza, the Santa Ana Civic Center, and the Santa Ana Amtrak/Metrolink Station. Construction is already underway for extensions to Cal State University Fullerton, Cal State University Long Beach, and the Irvine Spectrum, in an effort to relieve congestion on the 5, 22, and 405 freeways.
This month marks what could have been the opening day of light rail in Orange County. Unfortunately, the ill-fated CenterLine light rail project was successfully defeated by Orange County's voters under the influence of John Kleinpeter and FAIR — Fund Alternatives Instead of Rail — in 2003. (A similar movement is underway in Los Angeles to stop transit improvements: wealthy homeowners in Santa Monica are pooling together resources to stop light rail in Los Angeles in two groups known as "Neighbors for Safe Rail" and "Fix Expo".)
So today, instead of enjoying quick travel times, travelers must endure a 59-minute slog between Irvine and Santa Ana. And, it's still a pain in the ass to travel in Irvine. Good job, Orange County.
Here's the system you could have had, from Fullerton through Anaheim, Santa Ana, and South County...
...that was shrunken to just Santa Ana to UC Irvine...
...to nothing.
The project began planning in 1990 as part of a county-wide tax measure. According to lightrailnow.org, "Despite the fierce opposition, rail supporters did win a major victory in 1990 when, as noted above, Orange County voters passed Measure M, setting aside a special transportation improvement tax. However, 75% of this tax goes to support highway development, while only 25% was earmarked to fund a rail transit system for the county."
To compensate for the termination of light rail, OCTA was supposed to use funds for 30-minute Metrolink service (to be open next year), "bus rapid transit", and Go Local projects. However, it's been 20 years since the start of Measure M now and we've yet to see any of these projects come to fruition. Go Local, in my opinion, has pretty much been a front for funding neutered shuttles in Irvine that duplicate old OCTA routes. The Bravo! bus rapid transit has been watered down to limited-stop buses that still get stuck in automobile traffic. And much of the money has been sunk into "transit improvements" like building bridges to separate road and train traffic — which actually does nothing to improve transit.
So what do you think? Was it a good idea to cut light rail out?
- More photos of project plans and photographs on Flickr.
- LightRailNow tracks the rise and fall of OCTA's CenterLine project.
Comments
I think it's time to replace
I think it's time to replace OCTA. They're totally incompetent.
Maybe Orange County should contract with Metro to run their transit. Look what they managed to do in the last 20 years.
A crying shame -- it is not over yet
The fraud perpetrated upon Measure M taxpayers, who have been deprived of this promised system, is the crime of the century in OC. Perhaps a lawsuit would force these criminals to read the text of the law as passed by the voters.
How are those condos selling, Mr Bren?
PS -- I am sure Mr Bren has already has his billions, but the others he sold on the urban high rise fantasy in Irvine are watching their property values decline by 50%, while people living along mass transit routes continue to count on appreciation. Are people running the Irvine Company really so stupid that they can't see the only thing missing is mass transit?
I am really sorry to call names and accuse people, but it really upsets me that one person can bring the Ceterline down. But I don't buy that: it was a group effort of mostly insiders. It was a half hearted attempt, just like all of the rest of the OCTA fumbles on mass transit.
I was at the light rail
I was at the light rail opening day festivities at Union Station today and the joint was packed. The line to ride the Gold Line to East LA went into the parking lot. I think that, if Centerline was opening today, it'd be the same in Santa Ana. There you've got a transit dependent population that is being screwed over by OCTA's unequal transportation investment decisions. People, who may not necessarily be transit dependent, WANT to get out of their cars. No, not everyone, but enough to support a BRT system, and OCTA can't even get that right.
I, too, was also at today's grand opening...
It really was a blast seeing for the first time since 2000 that a new Metro Rail segment of the route made its debut. At the same time, it is also sad that we couldn't get the CenterLine light rail here in OC. I mean, come on, a possible CenterLine extension to Cal State Fullerton in the future had the line been built? If that happened while I'm still a student here, it gives me all the more reasons to love OC even more! But the douchebag libertarians like John "warlock" and the anti-transit GOPers in Congress and elsewhere here in OC thinks it's a better idea to build more freeways instead and give a huge middle finger to the poor, elderly, disabled, children, environmentally conscious, and others. I hope the CenterLine rail or something like it will be reconsidered again in the future. If there's gonna be a high-speed rail line running along OC starting in 2018, I think it's important to improve the county's bus and rail system, which includes adding more of it!
I don't think we'll ever see
I don't think we'll ever see any real progress in Orange County until we ditch OCTA. At the very least, they should rename themselves OCFA (Orange County Freeway Authority).
How do we get light rail in OC? Simple - redo Measure R and mandate part of it for one or more light rail lines. We could hae a revised Measure M back on the ballot by next June.
Do not put more cars on the freeways
OCTA thinks the solution is to put more cars on the freeways, instead of taking them off. The last thing that this region needs is more cars. The roads are in poor condition due to heavy SUVs and millions and millions of cars. It is a challenge just reading on an OCTA bus or riding a bike on these dilapidated surface streets, yet the OCTA wants to improve the freeways so that surface streets can be flooded with more heavy SUVs and cars.
People are against the 405 expansion. The city of Westminster is figting it. You can read it in the LA Times, but you won't be reading it in the OC Register.