Using Old Tracks for a New Road

Officials of the Orange County Transit District and the state Transportation Department have been meeting with Southern Pacific Railroad representatives to see whether they can turn an old roadbed into a new road.

The abandoned railroad track in question runs for five miles alongside the Santa Ana Freeway, Interstate 5, between Katella Avenue in Anaheim and the Costa Mesa Freeway, State Route 55. The idea would be to build a guideway that would let buses and van pools get out of the rush-hour traffic at that point, reduce congestion a bit and make better time in the bargain.

The idea is in keeping with the district’s policy of trying to move the largest number of people in the smallest amount of time for the least amount of money. One positive part of the plan is that the guideway, which would be a special ramp, could be built without tearing down existing housing or relocating businesses because the existing track already is part of the right of way.

Another advantage is that the guideway could be built at ground level instead of as an elevated road, which could double the estimated $75 million that it would cost to build the five-mile guideway that the Transit District has in mind.

Guideways are already used successfully in Los Angeles, Houston, Tex., and other areas, often accepting car pools as well as buses. They can work in Orange County, too, if they are properly integrated into existing road systems.

After the June, 1984, defeat of Proposition A, which proposed a 1% increase in local sales taxes for freeway and mass transit projects--including a rail line--transportation officials scrapped plans for the rail line. But guideways, using abandoned rail lines as roadways, might make a perfectly good substitute for a new rail line.

For one thing, guideways are less expensive than rail lines and can be used by buses, vans and cars. They also have greater public acceptance and would therefore probably be used more.

The guideways are also more appealing than commuter lanes, like the one now being tested on the Costa Mesa Freeway, because they are physically divided from the regular traffic lanes by concrete barriers. They usually have their own exclusive on- and off-ramps so that drivers do not have to cut across jammed traffic lanes to get to and from the guideways.

Guideways cannot be used everywhere. But in areas like the railroad right of way along Interstate 5, and the old Pacific Electric trolley line from Stanton to Santa Ana, they could make ideal additions to a balanced transportation plan that must include mass transit as well as new freeway lanes. They deserve top priority in the Transit District’s plans.