IRVINE : Two Underpasses Get Council’s OK

The City Council voted Tuesday to build two underpasses for the railroad tracks on Culver Drive and Jeffrey Road, despite a recommendation by city transportation planners to build a less expensive overpass.

The council also agreed with Jeffrey-area residents to move the road about 60 feet to the east between Irvine Center Drive and Walnut Avenue when the underpass is built to reduce noise at homes fronting the busy street.

The votes were part of an overall package of projects to improve traffic circulation within the city, which included replacing two pedestrian overpasses on Yale Avenue with vehicle overpasses. Voters narrowly approved building vehicle overpasses in 1990 despite fears by residents that the bridges would bring excessive traffic to the residential Woodbridge community.

Since the city doesn’t have the $45 million the four structures are expected to cost, the council on Tuesday approved spending $4.8 million to build the bridge on Yale over the railroad tracks north of Irvine Center Drive.

The council also agreed to spend another $1.4 million to design the other three structures and voted 4 to 1, with Councilwoman Paula Werner opposed, to take the first steps needed to issue bonds to pay for the three other projects. The council will need to vote again, probably some time after May, to authorize the city to borrow the money.

City transportation officials will ask for the bonds when design of the three structures is close to completion and a better cost estimate is available, said Manuel Gomez, a senior transportation analyst.

Moving ahead with design work on the other three projects will also increase the city’s odds of keeping a current $5 million state grant for the underpasses and in securing other outside transportation funds, Councilman Bill Vardoulis said.

“If we don’t have a shelf-ready design, we won’t get those grant funds,” Vardoulis said.

Irvine recently lost about $10 million in funding for traffic improvements in the Irvine Business Complex because the city didn’t have projects ready to be built, Mayor Sally Anne Sheridan said.

Design work for the Yale Avenue bridge is already complete, Gomez said. Construction should begin about June and be completed early next year, he said.