Light-Rail Funds in Jeopardy

ORANGE COUNTY, CA-The federal government’s top transportation czar warned local officials here over the weekend that Uncle Sam won’t earmark funds for a countywide light-rail system until leaders from OC’s various cities figure out where the trains would start and stop.

For years, mayors and council members in several Orange County cities have talked about building a light-rail system that would ease traffic congestion, while simultaneously spurring more real estate and economic development. But those talks have produced little, in part, because the various cities that would be involved haven’t devised a regional plan that declares which communities the rail line would serve.

On Saturday, US Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, who was in Los Angeles to promote President George W. Bush’s $57.2 billion transportation budget, said that federal funding for Orange County’s rail project could be in jeopardy if city and county leaders cannot agree on a specific route.