O.C. Streetcar Project to celebrates milestones on May 11 in Santa Ana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 6, 2015

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Joel Zlotnik (714) 560-5713, Eric Carpenter (714) 560-5697

NEWS ADVISORY: OC Streetcar Project Celebrates Milestones

WHAT: Officials from the Orange County Transportation Authority, Santa Ana and Garden Grove will mark important milestones leading toward the construction of the OC Streetcar. Elected leaders and stakeholders will be recognized for their ongoing support of the project and updates will be provided.

The four-mile long streetcar is planned to run from the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center through Downtown Santa Ana and the Civic Center, operating through important employment, restaurant and retail centers along Fourth Street and Santa Ana Boulevard. It will also travel to a new multimodal transit hub at Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue in Garden Grove. The project is planned to be operational by the end of 2019.

WHEN: 1:30 p.m., Monday, May 11

WHERE: Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center, 1000 E. Santa Ana Blvd, Santa Ana, CA 92701

WHO: Scheduled speakers include:

• OCTA Chairman Jeffrey Lalloway, also Mayor Pro Tem of Irvine
• OCTA Director, Miguel Pulido, also Mayor of Santa Ana
• Metrolink Chairman Shawn Nelson, also an OCTA director
• OCTA CEO Darrell Johnson
• Reuben Franco, president O.C. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• Ryan Chase, president of Downtown Inc.

WHY: The project, long talked about, is now on track to be designed and built. OCTA has taken over as the lead agency to build the OC Streetcar and the environmental plans have received approvals from both cities and from the Federal Transit Administration. OC Streetcar has been accepted into the project development phase of the New Starts federal grant program.

The streetcar, estimated to cost $250 million to build, is planned to be the first such project in Orange County. It’s expected to provide a convenient last-mile connection between Santa Ana’s train station and business and employment centers.

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