Many things about the California high-speed rail project remain a big question mark, including whether the line will ever reache Orange County. But the Los Angeles Times reports that work has started and finish in 2014 on Anaheim's 67,000 square foot Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center station, which would be the home of Anaheim's high-speed station should the bullet trains ever get there. Even if CaHSR falls through, the ARTIC station will house Metrolink and Amtrak trains, buses, taxis, and 1,082 parking spots on a huge plot of industrial land between the Honda Center and the Anaheim Stadium. The $184 million project, paid for by a voter-approved tax, will be undeniably eye-catching. With white steel ribbons and transparent material that lets the sun shine in, ARTIC has been likened to an "iceberg" by the LAT and to the "Crystal Cathedral of train stations" by a detractor.
In public spending-averse OC, some call ARTIC a showpiece not worth the money. But even without the bullet train, convention center and Disneyland-adjacent ARTIC expects to draw 10,000 daily boardings, four times what the current Anaheim station sees. While Fullerton and Irvine now have more train riders, Anaheim City Councilmember Lorri Galloway says ARTIC will give the OC a branding monument worthy of its price: "It is iconic, futuristic -- something that draws people, the mere beauty of it."
· Anaheim transportation center picks up speed [LA Times]
· Fancy Anaheim Transit Hub Could Start Work This Fall [Curbed LA]
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