ANAHEIM : Bus Tour Boosts Freeway Project

Before heading to Sacramento next month to seek another $100 million for the Santa Ana Freeway widening in Anaheim, local officials on Wednesday tried to hit some of the highlights of the massive project during a bus tour.

Among the tidbits thrown out by Caltrans’ travel guides:

* A high-tech vehicle-locator system will be used to help the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans clear accidents faster. Within the next few months, about 80 CHP and 18 Caltrans vehicles will be outfitted with an electronic device to help dispatchers determine which patrol car is closest to an accident.

* At the Santa Ana-Costa Mesa freeway interchange, television cameras will be mounted on tall poles to monitor traffic conditions, replacing sensors embedded in the pavement. Officials at a traffic control center will watch the TV broadcast and adjust ramp meters, signals and electronic message boards to help traffic flow.

“This is a new-generation facility,” said Russell Lightcap, Caltrans district director. “It represents a more diverse solution and a much more difficult solution than we’ve had in the past.”

Through tours like the one organized Wednesday for the media, officials hope to maintain public support for the $1.9-billion project despite tremendous inconveniences. The project, being built from south to north, won’t be completed until after the turn of the century and is mostly unfunded north of the Santa Ana-Orange-Garden Grove freeway interchange.

“It’s troublesome as to the length of time these projects take,” said Stanley T. Oftelie, chief executive officer of the Orange County Transportation Authority. He said the project is similar to a “trip to the dentist” in which pain will be followed by relief.