OCTA awarded $2.3 million from the Transit and Intercity Rail Program to get new service rolling between Santa Ana and VA Hospital in Long Beach
ORANGE – A planned rapid bus service along one of the most heavily used routes in the county will become a reality thanks to a state grant awarded today to the Orange County Transportation Authority.
OCTA will receive $2.3 million from the Transit and Intercity Rail Program, part of the state’s cap and trade funding program. The program was created to fund capital improvements that cut greenhouse gases by reducing the number of miles that people drive.
“I want to thank the state for recognizing the benefits of this rapid bus service and the improvements it will bring to the residents of Orange County,” said OCTA Chairman Jeff Lalloway, also the Mayor Pro Tem of Irvine. “Investing in transit is critical to ensuring we have a balanced transportation system and that we can protect our environment as the county continues to evolve.”
The grant will allow OCTA to buy cleaner-burning compressed natural-gas buses to launch a rapid bus service between the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center and the VA Hospital in Long Beach.
The service, called Bravo! Route 560, will operate every 12 minutes during rush hour and every 18 minutes midday between SARTC and Goldenwest Boulevard in Westminster. Every other trip will serve Long Beach. Route 560 will travel 17th Street and Westminster Boulevard along the same route with fewer stops than OCTA’s existing Route 60. It’s expected that the rapid bus service will provide riders a travel time savings of 25 percent over the existing service, which currently takes more than 90 minutes from Santa Ana to Long Beach.
OCTA anticipates the service will begin operating in September 2016.
A transit-oriented development planned for Santa Ana also received grant funding through the state’s program. A 70-unit project to be built by a private developer directly across the street from SARTC, called The Depot at Santiago, received a $3.9 million grant.
The housing project will improve the intersections of Santa Ana Boulevard/Lacy Street and Santa Ana Boulevard/Garfield Street to increase the visibility of pedestrians, decrease the crossing distance for pedestrians and notify drivers when pedestrians are crossing. As part of this project, the city also plans to install curb extensions, high-visibility crosswalks, rectangular rapid flashing beacons and signs.
“With the OC Streetcar coming to Santa Ana, this state grant to The Depot at Santiago housing project is validation of our efforts to promote transit-orientated development and a sustainable community,” said Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, also an OCTA director. “The first Streetcar stop is across the street from the train station and co-locating quality housing choices and employment adjacent to transportation options is the best way to plan for our future.”
