IRVINE
An elevated light-rail system for the Irvine Business Complex is still being designed on paper, but city transportation officials are already debating whether to abandon the plan.
Councilman Mike Ward suggested dropping further studies of the demonstration Guideway project, a four-mile transit system similar to a monorail, which could cost between $130 and $146 million. Halting the preliminary studies will save $1.1 million, he said.
Discarding the Guideway would free up $120 million that Irvine can receive from Proposition 116, a statewide transit initiative, Ward said. That money could be put into the county’s 28-mile CenterLine project, another light-rail system being studied by the Orange County Transportation Authority.
Some of his colleagues said that they were not convinced.
“I think it is unfair to pull the plug on something that we have all agreed on,” said Mayor Christina L. Shea, adding that the City Council had unanimously supported the Guideway project. “We are 90% done finishing a [study] process here. What I don’t like to do is start something and not finish it.”
City Council members are expected to vote on the issue at their meeting Tuesday.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
