Train route questioned, still on track

Deirdre Newman

Now that the route for CenterLine has been chosen, city

transportation staff members will work with the Orange County

Transportation Authority engineers and South Coast Metro business

owners to make refinements.

The goal is to alleviate as many of the negative effects as

possible.

On Jan. 12, the transportation authority board of directors

selected a 9.3-mile route that will start at the Depot of Santa Ana

and end at John Wayne Airport with a stop at Santa Ana College.

CenterLine will enter Costa Mesa from the north, travel down

Bristol Street, go left on Sunflower Avenue for a short distance,

turn right onto Avenue of the Arts, turn left onto Anton Boulevard

and then cross through the Sakioka Farms property into Irvine. On

Avenue of the Arts, the light rail will descend underground for 1,100

feet.

During the public hearing last week, before the route was chosen,

two issues involving the Costa Mesa portion of the route were brought

up: the safety of the underground portion along Avenue of the Arts

and the distance riders would have to walk to get to South Coast

Plaza.

Neither poses a significant enough problem for the route to be

reconsidered, transportation authority spokesman Ted Nguyen said.

Safety is Job 1

The underground portion of CenterLine will be a single track,

while the rest of the light rail will be double-track.

Barry Christensen, chairman of the Rail Advocates of Orange

County, said the single track inside the underground tunnel will

cause a potential bottleneck and endanger riders.

“In Chicago, one of the operators wasn’t paying attention and a

fatal head-on collision occurred,” Christiansen said.

John Byrd, director of rail operations and activation for the

transportation authority, said the single-track format has a track

record of safety.

“There have been no fatalities in Sacramento or San Diego

attributed to single-track,” Byrd said.

The way a single track is set up is designed to prevent

collisions, Byrd said: when the light rail engineer gets a red light,

the train is incapable of moving forward, even if the driver

inadvertently tries to do so. It can’t move again until the light

turns green, Byrd said.

Walk don’t run

Another concern is CenterLine will bypass South Coast Plaza, an

upscale shopping destination that attracts more than 20 million

shoppers a year.

The closest stop will be on Anton Avenue, across from the Marriott

Hotel, which is about 2,000 feet away.

Chris Norby, a transportation authority board member and Orange

County supervisor, was one of two to vote against CenterLine. Part of

his reasons for rejecting it was that the light rail won’t stop at

South Coast Plaza.

And Tom Smalley, general manager of the Wyndham Hotel on Avenue of

the Arts, has railed repeatedly against the bypassing of South Coast

Plaza.

The route was reached after the relentless effort of South Coast

Metro business owners and city leaders to find a route that was

palatable to all parties.

The transportation authority will not try to trump that consensus,

Nguyen said.

“It is called the locally preferred alternative and needs to have

the support of the local municipalities as well as the community and

business leaders in that area,” Nguyen said.

Paul Freeman, spokesman for C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, which owns

South Coast Plaza, expressed confidence that CenterLine riders will

walk farther than critics anticipate.

Making the walk aesthetically appealing, with enticing experiences

at both ends is key, Freeman said.

The Bear Street Bridge is a perfect example, Freeman said. After

naysayers said that people wouldn’t walk across Bear Street, the

bridge that connects one part of South Coast Plaza to another has

attracted 15,000 to 20,000 shoppers on some days, Freeman said.

“If you have a positive experience on either end, then you’re

leveraging the CenterLine experience,” Freeman said.

The final environmental study on CenterLine should be completed

this spring, said transportation authority spokesman Michael Litschi.

It will then go through a public review period and be considered

by the authority board.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].