Fairmont Extension Plan Clears Hurdle

An environmental impact report on the city’s plan to extend Fairmont Boulevard across the railroad tracks, connecting it to La Palma Avenue, has been completed, officials said this week, so they can proceed with an application for funds from the Orange County Transportation Authority.

“This is just great,” said Councilwoman Barbara Kiley, a proponent of the plan. “I really think we can finish this project in the next four years.”

The $4-million project would include building a bridge over the train tracks. Yorba Linda has earmarked $1.9 million for the work, Anaheim has committed $100,000, and the two cities are hoping that OCTA will chip in $2 million.

Fairmont Boulevard now ends at Esperanza Road, routing all traffic onto the street that many Yorba Linda residents use to get to Imperial Highway and the Riverside Freeway. Congestion is a chronic problem, residents and officials say.

Mayor John M. Gullixson has complained of being stuck on Fairmont Boulevard for as long as 30 minutes some mornings. The bridge will be an integral part of the solution, he said, because the number of trains traveling through Yorba Linda is expected to triple by 2004.