County Cities May Receive $100,000 Apiece to Study Metrolink Station Links
Posted on: Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 15:00 CST
By Jim Radcliffe, The Orange County Register, Calif.
Feb. 28--ORANGE -- Monorail, railway, shuttle buses anyone?
Orange County's 34 cities can get $100,000 apiece to develop a vision on how to link themselves to Metrolink, under a plan approved Monday by the Orange County Transportation Authority.
With the $100,000, a city can begin determining if a small system would benefit its locals and begin studying how to build one.
Later, a city can submit an application for more funds for further study of a mass-transit idea. In all, there is $30 million set aside for the county's cities.
David Webb, deputy public works director for Huntington Beach, said Surf City and west-central O.C. cities could perhaps team up to build a monorail, light-rail line or shuttle to make it easy for Metrolink passengers to get to the beach and other destinations.
What agency would pay to build and operate the system hasn't been determined.
But Paul Taylor, an OCTA executive director, said if Measure M, the half-cent sales tax, is renewed by voters, there would be $1 billion for mass-transit systems dovetailing with Metrolink. Matching federal funding could be sought.
"We may have as much as $2 billion to spend on these branches," Taylor said.
The OCTA on Monday also approved:
Covering the $63 million shortfall to build two more lanes in each direction from the Riverside (91) Freeway to the Los Angeles County border. In July, a traffic engineer had estimated the cost at $251 million, but now the estimate is $314 million.
Hiring Connex Transit to take over the ACCESS contract beginning July 1 from Laidlaw Transit. Connex will be paid $94.5 million over three years to operate the OCTA system that provides severely disabled curb-to-curb bus service.
Buying 365 more solar-powered lights for bus stops for $212,000.The OCTA already has 345 of the units.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Orange County Register, Calif.
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Source: The Orange County Register
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