ORANGE – County transportation officials on Monday approved an increased capital funding plan for the OC Streetcar project ahead of a deadline to secure a federal grant.
With 30 percent of the design completed, the OC Streetcar – with 10 stops in Santa Ana and east Garden Grove – has seen a 3 percent – $9 million – cost increase, to $297.9 million.
The increase is owed to elements that will enhance future system operations and maintenance, said Mary Shavalier, OC Streetcar project manager for the Orange County Transportation Authority. They include additional track on North Ross Street between West Santa Ana Boulevard and West Fourth Street for a shortened route, improving a maintenance facility and adding a “truing” machine, to correct imperfections in the wheels that occur over time.
OCTA staff plan to submit the revised capital funding plan, which only OCTA board member Todd Spitzer opposed, to the Federal Transportation Administration by the Sept. 2 deadline for the next round of New Starts program analysis. In February, President Barack Obama, under New Starts, included $125 million for the streetcar in his proposed federal budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year. OCTA is seeking about $148.5 million in New Starts money.
“It’s a very small adjustment, I think, in the overall project to fit into the requirements of the FTA,” Darrell Johnson, OCTA CEO, said of the revised funding plan.
But Spitzer said he was “beyond frustrated” by the change and referenced the CenterLine light-rail project in central Orange County to John Wayne Airport that failed about a decade ago.
“Rail in general has had a very difficult history in this county,” Spitzer said. “To see this kind of change at 30 percent (design completion) when the support of some (OCTA) directors is not that solid is very disconcerting.”
OCTA applied for $40 million from the state cap-and-trade program and expects a decision on the funding in mid-August.
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