PLACENTIA

City officials, in cooperation with the Orange County Transportation Authority, are ready to start lowering railroad tracks along Orangethorpe Avenue--as soon as they get funding for the $250-million project. The tracks would be lowered 25 to 30 feet into the ground, eliminating traffic congestion at 10 crossings along a five-mile stretch of Orangethorpe. If the tracks were lowered, idling trains would not hold up cars at the crossings, improving traffic flow throughout the city and northern Orange County, city officials said.