OCTD OKs Plan for 19-Mile, $440-Million Bus Way System

Spurred by increased congestion and slow progress on new freeways, Orange County Transit District officials Wednesday unanimously approved plans for a 19.4-mile, $440-million system of concrete guide ways for multi-occupant vehicles on freeway median strips.

The guide ways, also known as transit ways and bus ways, would be linked to a 50-mile system of conventional car-pool lanes, about 12 miles of which are already in service on the Costa Mesa Freeway (Route 55). Taken together, the guide ways and car-pool lanes would be the largest system of preferential lanes built in the United States, according to OCTD officials.

The proposed system would greatly improve the transportation link between the employment centers of central Orange County and the Irvine-John Wayne Airport area, according to recently completed feasibility studies that began a year ago.

“I just think this is an excellent concept,” said OCTD board member William Farris.

“It’s a win-win situation,” added board member Richard B. Edgar, a Tustin councilman. He referred to the ability of OCTD to help finance the construction, which will mean less of a financial burden on the California Department of Transportation for the scheduled widening of the Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5) and the use of the same Caltrans widening project to incorporate an OCTD-engineered transit system that might otherwise have to stand alone.

OCTD has bankrolled $150 million for the project and would finance most of the initial segment on I-5 from the Orange Freeway (Route 57) to 4thStreet in Santa Ana, officials said. Such local financing of a guide way project would be unprecedented in the United States, according to Brian Pearson, OCTD’s manager of transit development. The 13-mile Los Angeles-El Monte bus way and the 30-mile Katy Expressway guide way system in Houston have been built largely with federal highway and urban mass transit funds.

Construction could begin in 1989 on the first segment if a little-used Southern Pacific railroad spur next to I-5 is acquired to accommodate the already planned widening of the freeway. Guide ways also would be incorporated in the planned remodeling of the interchange from the Santa Ana Freeway to the Costa Mesa Freeway in 1991 or 1992, OCTD officials said.

Remaining to be completed, however, are legally required environmental impact studies, public hearings, reviews by the California Department of Transportation and federal agencies, and design selection.

Options include barrier-separated lanes at ground level and elevated, concrete structures above existing freeway lanes. A combination of both designs is possible, depending on the availability of space to widen various freeway segments.

Construction of the remaining guide ways would depend on the availability of state and federal funds, but officials said they are optimistic about completing the entire 19.4-mile system. “The beauty of it is that it can be built in small chunks, as money becomes available,” said Pearson, OCTD’s development manager.

Approved by OCTD board members at a special meeting held Wednesday afternoon, the guide way plan would include segments on:

- The Orange Freeway from the Santa Ana Freeway to the Riverside Freeway (Route 91).

- The Santa Ana Freeway from Katella Avenue in Anaheim to the Costa Mesa Freeway.

- The Costa Mesa Freeway from the Santa Ana Freeway to the San Diego Freeway (I-405).

- The San Diego Freeway between Von Karman Avenue and Bear Street.

“The savings in time and number of commuters using the facilities will be surprising to a lot of people,” said OCTD General Manager James Reichert. “The transit ways will be able to carry, every hour, the same number of people that three general-purpose freeway lanes can carry, and they’ll be able to do it at full freeway speeds even at rush hours.”

Several OCTD officials are scheduled to visit Houston today to examine the Katy Expressway, which has concrete guide ways that were originally restricted to buses.

OCTD officials said guide ways in Orange County would be restricted to buses, car pools and van pools with two or more occupants.

MP, LEAVETT BILES / Los Angeles Times