Placentia receives initial $28 million for rail project

The California Transportation Commission has committed an initial $28 million to jumpstart a $400 million project to separate streets and a rail line in the city of Placentia.

The funds will not go toward the brunt of the project, putting the rail line into a five-mile-- long, 35-foot-deep

Instead, the money will fund phase I undercrossing projects at Melrose and Placentia avenues, according to the project's lead engineer. Also included in the initial phase is the closure of Bradford Avenue north of the tracks.

"We're trying to get the train away from the cars. They're not a good marriage," said Rick Kreuzer of Irvine-based KIM Engineering. "In phase I, three at-grades will be eliminated."

In separating trains and cars, engineers have three options-"rail lowering, rail raising or taking the roads down and under," Kreuzer said.

Rail lowering will be the bulk of the project and has been dubbed "the big dig"-a reference to Boston's massive road and tunnel project. The crossings at Melrose and Placentia, at the west end of the city, are better suited for street undercrossings, similar to ones in neighboring Fullerton, where the train stays "at-grade" and the roads dip and go under the rail line.

The early funding bumps the project's start date up a year.

"This is very significant," said Councilman Norm Eckenrode. "It enables us to start on the project much sooner than we expected."

The Melrose project now is slated to begin in June 2002andtake 14months,with the Placentia street work starting six months after and finishing in 20 months.

KFM Engineering will handle the civil portion of the work, including the roadway alignment, the rail and the utilities. Brea-based McLean and Schultz will handle the structural bridgework.

The overall project, called the Gateway Project, will drop five miles of the Northern Burlington Santa Fe rail line into a 30- to 40-- foot trench that streets will cross on bridges, allowing traffic to navigate without encountering trains. It'll also spare businesses and residents the wail of train horns now blown at intersections.

Estimates place the completion date of the $400 million project as early as 2006.

The initial money is coming early and from state coffers, but city officials also are looking for help from the federal government to obtain the needed $400 million. This month, Mayor Chris Lowe and city officials traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta on the project.