Rick@OCRR

Hi All,

I was riding down the Coyote Creek trail from Foster on Saturday (5-20-17) when I came upon a sign "Trail Closed."

And yes, it was. It was maybe ride-able on a mountain bike . . . but not my road bike. Lots of broken up dirt piles.

Anyone have any idea when the re-paving will be finished? Yes, I agree that section (just after the little chicane-bridge) needed to be re-paved, so no complaints there!

In the meantime, you can cut over to the SGRT on 182nd, i.e. from Cerritos Park to Liberty Park if you're trying to get to Seal Beach or PCH.

Rick / OCRR

marquhar

This was tweeted out on Mar 28, 2017,
<deleted BikeLongBeach tweet>

It was supposed to start on Mar 28 and last for a month, but April came and went with nothing done.

Alan Crawford (former Long Beach Bike Coordinator) also retweeted it.

Around Apr 17, I contacted Matt S., the LaCo PW Bike Coordinator, to ask why the work, although scheduled, had not begun yet. The levy grading project was still underway so he asked the paving contractor to wait until that was finished.

Notice that only the Orange County portion in Los Alamitos will be paved. They won't even get to Wardlow/Ball road, since Los Alamitos bosses are in dispute with Long Beach about city boundaries across the trail.

Also notice that Alan Crawford's team paved the Seal Beach/LB portion of the SGRT over 5 years ago. The other RMC grant recipients in La Palma, Lakewood, Cerritos, and SFS finished paving around the same time.

I could go into detail, but Los Alamitos has been pressured to forget the bike trail by a Developer, that along with former Recreation-Park Director Mark Wagner, ran a non-profit that funded an `Olympic Training Center` for Ladies Water Polo. Mr. MW was the city representative to the RMC that convinced them to allow RMC grant money to be spent on a deserted park, but leave the bike trail in hopeless condition.

marquhar

Lets use numerology to predict the finish date for CCRT repave

The fliers stapled to the trail gates said that construction would last one month or more. Since they started around 5-20-17 (50 day delay), lets say the earliest finish date could be 6-21-17.

Since we know that PW managers like mysticism & numerology, lets look for the earliest mystical date: 7-7-2017.
Its only a 2 week delay, but with all the holidays & summer breaks its possible.

Last Sunday, over the Memorial Weekend, I was riding by the CCRT gates at Wardlow/Ball. In the 10 seconds I was there, I saw 2 Road cyclists (full kit) trying to decide how to workaround the trail closure. They didn't know about the westward, 2 mile traverse to SGRT. One of the riders caught my ear and asked for advice. They were both southbound on nice bikes.

Still seeing lots of trail buckling on the lower SGRT from the Grad-all machine used for the levy improvements. That machine is very heavy, usually accompanied by a dump truck loaded with sand or boulders.

Rick@OCRR

Thanks for the update Marquhar. I've been taking the 182nd street connector in both directions and absolutely no problems.

Easy to do and 182nd has a great surface plus is plenty wide.

Rick / OCRR

Jon T

It's torn up at Wardlow going south now effective 2 weeks ago. I cut over Wardlow to El Dorado Park and ride south on the SGRT from there. The ride through ElDo Park is nice too.
Jon

Rick@OCRR

Is Wardlow better than 182nd Street as a cut-over to SGRT from Coyote Creek? I've never tried Wardlow.


Rick / OCRR

2seven0

Hi Rick I've ridden that stretch of Wardlow (Ball Rd. in the OC) many times has a bike lane & not much traffic in the early am on weekends. Painless overpass over the 605. Also bisects El Dorado Park if you need a rest stop. Studebaker Road is a nice uncrowded N/S alternative to the SGRT in that area also.
West

Rick@OCRR

Thanks 2seven0, Appreciate the information. Have to try that next time!

Rick / OCRR

TakingMyTime

It appears to be completed from at least Wardlow to Katella (that's all I can see from my car). It looks to be open, painted lane lines etc. Looks good.

Rick@OCRR

Thanks TakingMyTime, I rode it today but took the 185nd street detour to Liberty Park and SGRT. Next time I'll ride Coyote Creek further and see if it's open all the way like it used to be.

Rick / OCRR

mwandaw

Just a while ago (Monday, June 12 at about 1:45 pm) I rode southbound on the SGRT from Rynerson Park. I turned left onto the bridge that crosses Coyote Creek and rode northbound on the Coyote Creek Trail.

It looked like some repairs were made to the asphalt "ramp" that leads to the bridge and to some scattered areas north of the bridge. Then, starting at Katella, there was nice, new, smooth asphalt, complete with freshly painted lane markers. Ahhh...

The new pavement ended roughly 50 feet south of Wardlow/Ball, and it was back to asphalt motocross until I crossed over to the west side of the river at Centralia/Crescent.

It looked like all of the planned work was finished. I did see some kind of road work being done on Cerritos near the trail, but I don't know if it was related.

Now we need Long Beach and Cypress to repave the stretch from Warlow/Ball to Centralia/Crescent!

Rick@OCRR

Thanks mwandaw,

Will check that out tomorrow. Sounds (mostly) good.

Rick / OCRR

Rick@OCRR

Yes, huge improvement overall. Still a couple sections that are not first rate but those weren't the worst in any case.

Not sure why the photo won't show . . .

Rick / OCRR

Leo90604

Is it rideable from 5 fwy to Seal beach (CCT to SGRT) ?

Rick@OCRR

Not totally sure what you're asking because there's no access from the 5 freeway at all.

If you mean from where the 5 freeway crosses over the trail, then yes, no problem all the way from Foster to the SGRT bridge.

Rick / OCRR

marquhar

Hey Boss, Nice Mystical Date:
https://bikinginla.com/wp-content/upl...Re-Opening.jpg

this re-opening ceremony is tonight. Notice they want you to park at the Middle School. If anyone comes via bike, its still a drive-to-ride arrival. Odds are, nobody will arrive on a bike. If you go by bike, wear a tie with your kit. Don't bother with a collared shirt.

They credit the RMC as the sponsor of the project, but don't admit that they had to go in front of the RMC Board and get an extension of their *2006* grant out to June 2017, since it had expired without any repave.

Out of the 7-8 Cities receiving *2006* RMC Grants, Los Alamitos is the only city that dragged their feet about repaving, waiting 5 years longer than the other cities.

All this time (5 years) the bike path was still used by Griffin X-Country runners, LB State Employees from Cerritos (getting the non-motorized commute bonus), College Students, and others that don't fit the normal picture. Why needlessly subject them to injuries from turned ankles and bike crashes when wheels catch in huge cracks?

Jon T

I rode Saturday from Wardlow to Sunset Beach. That new section is the cat's meow.
Jon