ORANGE COUNTY Transportation Authority officials join with Federal Transit Administration and California Transportation Agency officials to break ground Friday, Nov. 30 on the $408 million OC Streetcar, the first such streetcar system in Orange County. (Left to right: OCTA Vice Chairman Tim Shaw, OCTA Director Barbara Delgleize (also a member of the Huntington Beach City Council), Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones, OCTA CEO Darrell E. Johnson, California Transportation Agency Secretary Brian Annis, Federal Transit Administration Acting Administrator K. Jane Williams, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, OCTA Chairwoman Lisa Bartlett, OCTA directors Andrew Do, Greg Winterbottom and Al Murray.)

The Orange County Transportation Authority on Friday brought together local, state and federal officials to accept a $149 million federal funding grant and to mark the start of construction on the county’s first modern electric streetcar.

Federal Transit Administration Acting Administrator K. Jane Williams and OCTA CEO Darrell E. Johnson signed a Full-Funding Grant Agreement at the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center, which with other federal funding will pay for more than half of the approximately $408 million OC Streetcar project.

Following the signing, transportation officials joined with leaders from Santa Ana and Garden Grove – the two cities that originally developed the project – and with business and community leaders to break ground on the OC Streetcar.

“This is a truly exciting day as we officially begin construction on a new travel option in Orange County’s urban core where public transit is critical in moving residents, employees and visitors on a daily basis,” said OCTA Chairwoman Lisa Bartlett, also the county’s Fifth District Supervisor.

The acceptance of the FTA’s $149 million grant follows years of close coordination between OCTA and the FTA to plan the rail transit line. The route goes from the Santa Ana Transit Center and connects the downtown of the county seat to Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove, using city streets and the old Pacific Electric right-of-way.

Construction is expected to start in 2019, with testing and operation in 2021.