ZippyThePinhead

An OC Register article on the opening stated:

I don't follow the story of these projects, but the $30 million cost is a little surprising to me (dismaying as well), and when you consider that Brea's FY2017-18 budget is about $55 million, and La Habra's is about twice as much, I can see why it takes time. $30 million works out to a cost of $7.5 million per mile.

Supposedly the county is slowly making progress toward completing the OC Loop. That's great, I'll believe it when I see it.

TrojanHorse

No matter how you slice it, that's an insane amount of money to spend on a few-feet-wide asphalt path. That's 10% for the project and probably 90% for affiliated bull****.

ZippyThePinhead

Supposedly the soil along the route was contaminated by arsenic which the railroad applied everywhere. So some of the cost was land, some of it was infrastructure, and some was arsenic abatement.

There is no denying, the abatement business is a savvy response to alleged problems created in the past. A decade ago, my plumber had no problem cutting drywall to do repairs, but now, because the drywall mud has 2% asbestos, and there could be undetected trace amounts in the drywall itself, our repipe job cost $2,500 more because we needed abatement to protect us from all that asbestos. I don't know if the same game is played in other states, but it is certainly played here in CA. I'm not suggesting asbestos isn't a problem, but rather that there is an incredible and expensive overreaction to it which is lining the pockets of some folks.

I wanted to add, I rode this morning, through parts of Fullerton, and the residential streets in that area (between Imperial and Bastanchury, west of Brea Blvd.) are cracked and seem very much in need of resurfacing. The homes along these streets are not inexpensive, and were I a resident of this neighborhood, and the city was spending money on bike infrastructure while the condition of my neighborhood roads was slouching toward gravel, I would be screaming bloody murder at the city government to keep first things first. Road maintenance is right behind public safety, IMO, in priority.

TrojanHorse

Too many cars and too many BIG cars make it hard to keep up with street condition. Look at Lambert through La Habra and you'll see what big trucks do to roads. I don't know WHY the state road budget is inadequate but obviously the very unpopular gas tax was supposed to help with that.

Arsenic abatement... SMH.

Where were you? I used to cut through there on Puente (or Rolling Hills) street all the time, I don't recall THAT one being too terrible. Or even bad at all.

ZippyThePinhead

Puente south of Imperial is not good. When you consider that homes in that neighborhood go for around $1,000,000, the condition of Puente is awful, especially between Bastanchury and the bridge through the golf course.

TrojanHorse

I finally rode that rail trail to check it out. They really did a nice job but it's so short! 2 miles total if my strava track is to be believed. How on earth did it take so long and cost so much to complete? I guess part of the answer is that they're not done yet - the part through the golf course doesn't appear to exist.

It's more of a jogging trail for local residents than any sort of useful bike path but it is really nice.

ZippyThePinhead

The part that goes through the golf course is not so user-friendly. You have to know where to look for it, and in truth it may be easier to skip it.



BRT through Birch Hills GC