The OC Streetcar continued its forward momentum with the welcome news that the project has been included in President Obama’s 2016-2017 fiscal budget. This puts the project into the federal funding pipeline on the path to potentially receiving up to half of the project’s cost from federal funds.
Within the next two years, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will consider a full-funding grant agreement, which finalizes the total project funding amount from the New Starts program. OCTA, the lead agency developing the project, has been working with the FTA through the New Starts program, which supports locally planned and operated transit investments.
The OC Streetcar is expected to cost about $289 million, with the remaining funding coming from various state and local sources, including Measure M, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements.
This is a significant milestone for OC Streetcar, which is intended to provide convenient connections for people traveling from trains and buses to employment, retail and recreational areas in the heart of Orange County. Currently in development, OC Streetcar is planned to travel 4 miles from the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center, through Downtown Santa Ana and the Civic Center, along the Pacific-Electric right of way, and connect to a new multimodal transit hub at Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue in Garden Grove. Up to six streetcars are planned to run along the route, stopping every 10 minutes during peak hours at 10 stations in each direction
On the current schedule, construction for the OC Streetcar would begin in late 2018, with service beginning in late 2020. By 2035, the streetcar is estimated to carry more than 6,000 riders each day.