Twelve-hour closures along BNSF rail line will allow for opening of Tustin/Rose bypass road
ORANGE – Four intersections along the BNSF rail line at the border of Anaheim and Placentia will close for 12 hours – from 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4, to 6 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 5. The closures are necessary so railroad crews can install crossing-gate timing devices, allowing for a new bypass road to open at Tustin Avenue/Rose Drive.
The intersections with the rail line scheduled to close are Tustin/Rose, Van Buren Street, Richfield Road and Kellogg Drive.
Rail crossings at Lakeview Avenue and Jefferson Street will remain open and will serve as the designated detour routes during the closure. Regular train traffic will continue during those hours and BNSF crews will manually open and shut gates at Lakeview and Jefferson.
While the work is scheduled to occur overnight on Saturday, the closures are subject to change. Drivers should depend on electronic message signs on the streets, which will be updated with the latest information at least 48 hours before the closure begins.
During the closure, nearby residents may hear train horns, which will be activated as an added safety precaution. All local streets will remain open to residents to enter and exit their neighborhoods.
BNSF crews agreed to complete the work overnight during the weekend in an attempt to cause the least amount of disruption to traffic flow.
Once the work is completed, a bypass road along Tustin/Rose will open to traffic Sunday morning, allowing traffic to continue to cross the rail line at that intersection as work on the overcrossing is completed. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2016.
The $103-million Tustin/Rose project is one of seven in the Orange County Transportation Authority’s O.C. Bridges program. This is an effort to separate car and pedestrian traffic from the busy rail line, enhancing safety and improving commute times by eliminating the need for drivers to wait at rail crossings.
Up to 70 trains travel through the area daily – a number expected to increase to nearly 130 trains each day by 2030.
Each of the O.C. Bridges projects is being funded in part by Measure M, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements, and by state and federal funds.
For more information, visit www.octa.net/ocbridges.
