$3 Million OKd for Placentia Rail Plan
County transportation officials Monday approved $3 million to help financially strapped Placentia finish an innovative project to silence train horns and improve safety at railroad crossings.
Orange County Transportation Authority directors voted 11 to 5 to provide the funds for Placentia’s so-called quiet zone and related safety measures at eight railroad crossings.
“Placentia has taken on a huge burden,” said Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, an OCTA board member who voted for the grant. “The city carries the ball for other communities.”
Without OCTA support, Placentia officials said the city would not be able to afford planned safety improvements along one of the busiest railroad corridors in the region.
About 70 trains a day pass through the small north Orange County city.
The planned quiet zone -- one of the first in the country -- and efforts to install new gates, signals and street medians at railroad crossings are part of the city’s OnTrac project that is designed to rebuild five miles of rail corridor through town.
During the last 18 months, OnTrac’s budget has been plagued by uncertainty and delays surrounding hundreds of millions of dollars the city has sought in state and federal funding.
“This is a north Orange County project. It is not just limited to the city,” said Placentia Mayor Scott P. Brady.
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