New Caltrans District Officially Open in County
Officials with the state Department of Transportation opened their first district office in Orange County Friday in a bid to help speed local highway projects.
The new office is at 1835 W. Orangewood Ave., Orange.
Until Friday, Caltrans was basing most of its county operations at a small engineering complex on 17th Street near the Santa Ana Freeway in Santa Ana and at the agency’s Los Angeles office. The Santa Ana building will eventually be torn down for freeway widening.
The move follows Gov. George Deukmejian’s decision in April to create Caltrans District 12 for the county--the first new Caltrans district in decades.
The county had been part of District 7, which still includes Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Orange County business and civic leaders had lobbied the governor for several years.
One of the first actions taken by the new Caltrans office Friday was to give a right-of-way permit to a Huntington Beach hotel developer.
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