Editorial
Public Works Serve as Symbols of Public Life
Photographer: Jim Honaker
OC Streetcar
Orange County, California
Submitted by: Jeni Swierczek
Aldridge Electric Project Superintendent Jim Honaker is not only creating the electrical scope for the county’s 4.15-mile streetcar project connecting downtown Santa Ana with Garden Grove. He is also the project photographer and brings a lot to the table. Honaker is a licensed drone pilot who flew a DJI Mavic 2 Pro (with its Hasselblad camera) 80 ft high over a yard near the project on Safety Day last May. The ground had been painted to show crews where utilities were located “to help everybody envision what’s going to be built,” he says.
Whether you consider California to be paradise, dystopia or both, the state is certain to be the beneficiary of the largest share of federal funding from the $1.2-trillion infrastructure act, about $45 billion. On a per-person basis, that’s still a modest $1,200, so the funds won’t magically transform California into a public works paradise.
What is likely to improve, if not transform, the quality of Californian and American life is a variety of public works of all kinds, each one serving a mostly local need and directed by dedicated government professionals to a successful completion on the public’s behalf.
The Orange County (OC) Streetcar project, like many other public works, has ended up being much more costly (current price: $509.5 million) than when it was first planned and designed. Although OC Streetcar isn’t the recipient of infrastructure act funding, federal and state grants will pay for more than half the costs ($305 million). In return, Santa Ana will get a 10-stop system with a 10- to 15-minute wait time, more foot traffic, fewer cars downtown and a boost to the local economy in a place where the poverty level is worse than the national average.
America is deeply divided, even when it comes to transportation choices. If you like driving down a road, you might enjoy more lanes and a smooth asphalt surface. If you prefer air travel, you may be sensitive to airport architecture and access, and if you like to travel by train—including hopping up on a streetcar—rail has its intangible pleasures. Rail advocates should be mildly pleased at new funds that will nurture rail, Amtrak and transit systems. In the current political and health slumps, it’s easy to forget the satisfaction and occasional joy that a single regional public project can inject into daily life. Public works can’t salve the pandemic’s wounds, but they are an act of faith in public life and in successful government—and a sign of optimistic public spirit in a time of crisis.
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