YORBA LINDA : Hopes Raised for Bridge at Tracks

There may be light at the end of the tunnel for motorists who have put up with long, slow freight trains blocking Imperial Highway, the primary route to the Riverside Freeway for residents living on Yorba Linda’s east side.

City officials have been frustrated in efforts to obtain a remedy from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, but now, with passenger trains planned for the tracks, relief may be in sight.

Officials are hoping that use of the tracks by Metrorail trains will qualify the crossing for a bridge or an underpass, which would elevate either the tracks or the street.

Although only a few passenger trains pulling a few cars are expected to run on the tracks, which parallel Esperanza Road, that may make the crossing eligible for grade-improvement funds from the Orange County Transit Authority, the county and the state.

“It will certainly put Yorba Linda in a better spot to win funding for an undercrossing,” OCTA Director Stan Oftelie said last week.

In the past, Oftelie said, OCTA was more concerned with tracks used by Amtrak, such as the line that runs from Oceanside to Fullerton. Compounding the problem is that even though Yorba Linda residents are most affected by the long delays, the railroad crossing actually lies in Anaheim.

But now, with commuter service planned for the spur bordering Yorba Linda, there is new interest in dealing with traffic problems created by trains.

Funding is dependent on a complex formula that considers the number of cars and the number of trains using the crossing, he said. With the additional use of the line by commuter trains, the crossing should become eligible, he said.