CenterLine Rail: Not All Are Aboard

* The Nov. 26 article “Clang! CenterLine Jarred Again as Orange Votes No” was a breath of fresh air.

Any rational city council should vote no.

First the Orange County Transportation Authority said that there was no more space available to widen or build streets and freeways.

Next the environmental impact reports said building the CenterLine would be pejorative to almost everything except apple pie and motherhood, but with mitigation all would be better.

However, mitigation consists of widening the affected streets. What is wrong with this solution?

As pointed out by Mayor Joanne Coontz, the great cost of the CenterLine would preclude many other important projects.

A bus system with the same passenger capacity would only cost 20% of the proposed CenterLine expenditure; and a bus system would have none of the adverse effects of the CenterLine.

A. TRUJILLO ESCARENO

Tustin

* Thankfully, Santa Ana and Orange have said no to the CenterLine plan. But OCTA is right to look beyond our gridlocked road system as it fills up with more cars and bigger trucks.

Let’s use that $1.4 billion better. We can pay for underpasses or overpasses at all the county’s Metrolink and Amtrak and high-density freight crossings.

We can pay for a second main track to all Metrolink and Amtrak routes in those locations where only one track exists. We can buy another 10 commuter train sets, build all the proposed new stations, fence in all railroad right-of-ways for safety, and still have money left over.

The net result: faster train schedules, elimination of grade crossing accidents and trespassing, and more seats and schedule options.

Let’s not stop looking at alternatives to roads, but let’s make sure that our transportation decisions give us the best return for the dollars invested.

BRUCE GILLINGS

Costa Mesa

* So OCTA succumbed to the protests of Santa Ana and has now shortened the proposed line so it runs between Costa Mesa and Irvine. What a shame.

Completely eliminated is the north segment from South Coast Plaza to Fullerton. This action was apparently brought about by opposition to the rail line’s sharing of streets along the route, which would result in loss of traffic lanes and parking spaces.

That makes sense. The line should be elevated through areas where traffic flow and pedestrian safety is involved. Those are lessons from the Blue Line.

What doesn’t make sense is that this proposal eliminates UCI Medical Center and Anaheim, with its theme parks, convention center, the Pond and Anaheim Stadium. It eliminates the route into Fullerton for connection to Metrolink and Amtrak’s Southwest Chief and San Diegan trains.

This is the heart of the system. Without it the CenterLine becomes the line to nowhere that the critics had accused it of being from the start.

How can a public transportation system, which is for the benefit of the entire population, be jeopardized by such a small segment of the proposed route?

A Nov. 17 article quotes Supervisor Tom Wilson, who chairs the OCTA’s board, as saying, “When you look at a traffic study like that you see that what traffic is today, that’s what it was yesterday. Do we want it to be like that tomorrow?”

The citizens of Orange County must send OCTA a message that the complete CenterLine is needed now and in the future. Each year of delay will increase the price of building it as well as the need for it.

DICK HUTCHINS

Fullerton