Beginning Aug. 11, drivers will need to detour to avoid the area
ORANGE – Orangethorpe Avenue will close to traffic beginning Aug. 11 as crews continue working to build a bridge over the railroad tracks so vehicles no longer have to wait for trains to pass.
The closure, from Thames Street to Chapman Avenue, will be in effect until spring 2016, when construction is expected to be completed .
The Orangethorpe project is one of seven in the Orange County Transportation Authority’s O.C. Bridges program. This is a more than $634 million 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 – some more than one mile long – travel through the area daily. That number is expected to increase to nearly 130 trains each day by 2030.
OCTA will reconstruct Orangethorpe Avenue as a bridge to allow vehicles to pass over the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks to separate rail and roadway traffic.
On the west side of the project, Crowther Avenue and Miller Street will rise to meet Orangethorpe Avenue, which begins to ascend approximately 500 feet west of Miller Street. On the north side of the project, Chapman Avenue rises to meet the elevated portions of Orangethorpe, which lowers back to street level approximately 800 feet east of Chapman.
As detour routes, drivers can use either Kraemer Boulevard to the west or Tustin Avenue/Rose Drive to the east, with Alta Vista Street to the north and Miraloma Avenue to the south.
Each of the O.C. Bridges projects is being funding 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.
