Trouble on the Tracks for John Wayne Airport Monorail Project

Businessman Bob Young came up with a proposal in 1988 that fueled the imagination of the Orange County Board of Supervisors and rapid transit devotees everywhere.

His promise was brash and to the point: If you let me build a monorail system between John Wayne Airport and a 23-story office tower across the street, my company will foot the entire $3.5-million bill for the half-mile project.

The company was McDonnell Douglas Realty, and Young was its president. Ecstatic county supervisors approved the project and ordered county staff members to speed environmental clearances.

With potential connections to a larger monorail loop planned for the Irvine Business Complex and ultimately a six-city urban rail system, Young’s project seemed to be the perfect private-public partnership.

Now the airport monorail, which refocused public attention on the idea of a high-tech rail solution for county traffic woes, is two years behind schedule, and the bill has more than doubled to $8 million. McDonnell Douglas still lacks the private financing it needs for the office tower project, which includes the monorail.

“It just seems that projects like this take forever,” Young said recently. “I think there’s a glimmer of light with respect to the financing, though. We’re having some heavy meetings with some companies about preleasing in the office tower.”

It could be another year or more before the monorail carries any passengers. Meanwhile, McDonnell Douglas officials say they may spend a few hundred thousand dollars on a full-scale mock-up at the airport to show people what the finished system would be like.

That’s news to airport officials, who say they have not seen such a proposal.

Like almost all U.S. rail projects, the monorail has followed a bumpy path.

Early on, Young got into a flap with some county transportation officials. He accused them of being stuck in the bus age. One official who supported Young’s project nonetheless said the monorail, which would make the journey in about two minutes at a cost of 50 cents per passenger, was little more than a tourist attraction that would not reduce automobile trips to and from the airport.

Then Irvine moved slowly on approving the office tower because some officials objected to the project’s size. Eventually, the city made building the monorail a condition for permits needed to build the office tower.

Airport officials, meanwhile, extracted agreements from McDonnell Douglas Realty to pay any county costs associated with the monorail. But disputes continued over the scheduling of monorail work at the airport and efforts to minimize disruption of airport traffic during construction.

Despite the seemingly endless delays, Young remains an unabashedly outspoken monorail proponent. Two weeks ago, he rode the monorail at Walt Disney World in Florida several times.

“It’s an absolute dream,” he said.