Dreams of a Monorail and Reality : Irvine’s Plan for a Half-Mile Link to Airport Deserves Study, but Details Are Needed

A number of cities in Orange County have expressed a great deal of interest in eventually being linked by a monorail, but they shouldn’t break out the champagne just yet. While Irvine’s City Council signed off recently on a developer’s plan to build the inaugural half mile, which in turn led the developer to trumpet the advent of a new era, officials at John Wayne Airport are somewhat less willing to cheer--at least for the moment.

After much talk about monorails, the airport people said last week that they still hadn’t seen much of anything in detail from McDonnell Douglas Realty, and what they needed rather quickly were some nuts-and-bolts engineering reports they could review. Since the monorail is designed to run between the airport and an office complex across the street, an OK from the airport is crucial.

Overall, the enthusiasm and political will to build a monorail are strong in Orange County. That may be enough to carry the day. However, if the first-stage builder were to have a problem getting a guideway erected because of concern that construction might severely disrupt business at the airport, then there might be reason to doubt whether the project can get off the ground.

It’s getting late in the game, and there’s nothing new under the sun. Two years ago, when McDonnell Douglas Realty was presenting concepts, airport officials warned that they needed to see concrete plans. At issue then too was a vanishing opportunity to get the structure built while the county’s airport expansion project was launched. The expansion has had its own delays, but recent pressure from the county has that project rolling forward toward a completion date in September. The problem now is whether the airport will allow a monorail to be built if it threatens to disrupt airport activity during its construction.

McDonnell Douglas has been preoccupied with getting approval from the Irvine City Council. It’s been mindful of a ticking clock, and has been looking to meet sometime this week with the airport to discuss the situation further. But airport officials in recent days have raised good questions about the feasibility of constructing some support columns that the monorail would need. So there’s a lot to work out.

There may be lots of enthusiasm for having a monorail that would begin in Orange County--like the proverbial journey of a thousand miles--with a single step. But until there’s a clearer idea what that step will look like, the proposal glides along a shaky rail.