Federal Grants to Bring Transit Improvements

City officials managed to gain $1 million from the federal budget for a fiber optic cable to help control traffic.

A separate federal grant includes $200,000 to buy new vehicles for the city’s senior citizens transportation program.

Both grants were included in the Federal Department of Transportation Omnibus Spending Bill passed last month, according to the Ferguson Group, the city’s lobbyists.

The fiber optic technology will be used for a traffic signal program that should quickly ease traffic congestion, said city spokesman Richard Barnard.

The cable will run from the San Diego Freeway to City Hall along Gothard Street, sending instant data to city engineers. The program will be coordinated with Caltrans to allow traffic to be rerouted when needed.

Public Works Director Robert Beardsley said the cable will allow many of the city’s departments, including fire, library and parks, to operate off one “communications backbone.”

Winning the grant was due in large part to the work of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, along with city staff members and the Ferguson Group, said Mayor Shirley S. Dettloff.

City officials have yet to determine when the cable will be installed, Barnard said.