Costa Mesa’s tunnel vision

Geoff West

So, what is it with the Costa Mesa City Council and tunnels?

First, it was the ill-advised CenterLine project, which they want

to bury and hide from view in our city as it snakes its way past the

Performing Arts Center. I can’t blame them too much for that because

I wouldn’t want to see that constant reminder of yet another bad

idea, either.

Now they unanimously endorse something called the Tri-Tunnel

Express, which is being proposed by the Orange County Regional

Airport Authority as a solution to our air transportation problems.

Let me see if I understand this: A tunnel solving air transportation

problems. It’s an interesting concept. Their plan is to chew three

huge tunnels -- 36 to 55 feet in diameter, depending on which company

is doing the chewing -- through the Santa Ana mountains, from Irvine

to the Inland Empire and Riverside County, to provide easier access

for South County residents to the airports in Ontario and one

proposed at the former March Air Force Base. The airport authority

apparently thinks this will go a long way in resolving our

transportation difficulties. It’s my understanding that the facility

at March -- now called the March Inland Port -- will be a cargo-only

facility, with no passenger traffic planned.

The airport authority spokesman tells us that this tunnel complex

will cost $3 billion and will be funded by bonds. He presented

graphics, which showed just what a moneymaker this project will be,

then went on to say, “If it doesn’t pencil out, it won’t be built.”

Seems to me that we already have a solution to Orange County’s air

transportation problems in place -- it’s called El Toro. That perfect

location is, of course, now all but dead and buried as a commercial

airport, and will apparently become the site of what should be called

the Larry Agran Memorial Park -- by far the biggest flimflam foisted

off on the people of Orange County since the bankruptcy.

By all means, let’s make it easy for our neighbors to the south to

get to an airport. These are the same folks who foreclosed the chance

of El Toro becoming a regional airport and the solution to our air

transportation problems. I certainly wouldn’t want them to be

inconvenienced as they drive to an airport in the Inland Empire on

their way to catch a flight to some exotic place.

To further complicate things, the proponents of the Tri-Tunnel

Express want to accelerate the study of this plan because, according

to them, we will be in total gridlock by 2010. Their solution is to

pay a bonus to the contracting consultants to complete this study in

a year, not the three years anticipated. Yes sir, that’s a great

idea. If you have a questionable plan, of course, you will want to

rush the study so citizens don’t have a shot at it until it’s a done

deal. As I watched the presentation before the City Council on Nov.

3, I found myself wondering how eager I will be to drive through a

tunnel under the mountains to Riverside knowing that this tunnel

complex will include a gas pipeline and cross at least four fault

lines? Do you recall the scare tactics used by the anti-El Toro

folks, showing the photo of an airliner apparently heading for a

crash into the mountains? How about a little geological shift (that’s

an earthquake for you newcomers) along the proposed route of this

tunnel complex? The explosion following the sheared gas line would

blow Saddleback Peak all the way to Catalina.

When this concern was addressed at the council meeting, the glib

airport authority spokesman gave us a quote from Charles F. Richter

of Richter Scale fame, in which he stated that the safest place to be

during an earthquake was in a tunnel. I’m thinking the good doctor

probably didn’t have in mind a tunnel filled with flammable liquids,

crossing fault lines.

I’m all for finding solutions to our growing demand for air

transportation that don’t include the otherwise inevitable expansion

of John Wayne Airport. The last thing I want to see is a 747

lumbering off the runway at John Wayne and passing in front of my

window at 1,000 feet. El Toro was, and still is, the best solution to

Orange County’s air transportation needs.

This triple tunnel is literally just another hole into which we

will dump millions of dollars with no assurance of success. History

shows us -- as evidenced by the precarious financial condition of our

toll roads - that our local politicians don’t quite have the knack

for making good transportation decisions for us.

I suggest our City Council get over this gopher fixation, pull

their collective heads out of the ground, and pay more attention to

the issues on the surface that cry out for attention -- the great

bridge debate, for example. Election Day is now just 12 short months

away.

* GEOFF WEST is a Costa Mesa resident.