Building Projects Expected to Boom
For the county’s largest city, construction projects to benefit commuters, businesses and the arts are top priorities for 1996.
One major effort involves the Santa Ana Freeway. Caltrans is widening the freeway to 12 lanes from six across Orange County, and the Santa Ana portion is to be finished by midyear.
About the same time, Caltrans expects to open carpool connector lanes linking the Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Orange freeways in Santa Ana, a move that will greatly relieve traffic congestion.
Drop ramps, or on-and-off ramps for carpoolers at Main Street, also will be open by mid-1996, a Caltrans spokesman said.
Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr. said that transportation “is a big part of business, and without having drivers sit in traffic, there will be an economic benefit.”
In downtown, meanwhile, a $2.5-million renovation of the historic Grand Central Building, a cornerstone of the Artists Village, is expected to begin in mid-1996, downtown project manager Susan Jones-Helper said.
The Grand Central Building is being refurbished with city money, and will be home to art students, an art gallery and a restaurant run by Cal State Fullerton.
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