‘Orange Line’ Is Better Alternative

* Quite a few years ago, Pacific Electric abandoned the use of the right of way that cuts diagonally across the county from Beach Boulevard in Stanton to the Civic Center in Santa Ana. Also, the railroad, now Union Pacific, uses only a small amount of the rest of the right of way from Stanton into Norwalk and has plans to abandon it.

Several years ago, the Orange County Transportation Authority held meetings in the area on use of this right of way. The consensus was that someday it would be needed for a light rail line to take some of the load off the Santa Ana Freeway, which it parallels. They promised the citizens that it would be preserved, and no permanent structures would be built on it. If you will notice, this right of way cuts across the parking lot of the Costco store and the new Home Depot on Garden Grove Boulevard, but does not go through the buildings.

The idea for this “Orange Line” was to have a light rail line that connected the Orange County Civic Center with the existing “Green Line,” so one could travel to LAX or transfer to the “Blue Line” and travel to the Los Angeles Civic Center.

This would be a much better light rail line than the proposed CenterLine. Also, converting this right of way from Beach Boulevard to the Civic Center to a roadway would be a good use of this property. It would reduce the load on the Garden Grove Freeway and on the Santa Ana Freeway. The addition of sound walls and some landscaping would make it more acceptable to the homeowners that live adjacent to it.

Getting to the Civic Center from the northwest part of the county is now quite a hassle, and this would expedite travel and make good use of this right of way.

GORDON WALKER

Anaheim