TakingMyTime

https://www.sealbeachca.gov/Portals/...arch%20....pdf

Seal Beach is closing the SGRT and will be handing out citations

diphthong

hopefully they closed the beach as well. that would seem to be a larger concern.
**edit**oh good, they did.

skidder

The river is dual-County jurisdiction in that area (both OC and L.A. counties) so I wonder how Seal Beach will enforce any closure; maybe they're just locking the gates? And what about persons riding down from inland areas - they're suddenly locked off of Westminster Blvd or PCH?

I checked to see if the Santa Ana River Trail (SART) was also closed, but no news on any OC site (flood district or OC Parks), but that's not unusual for Orange County to be lax on updating their websites.

TakingMyTime

I was thinking the same thing about who has jurisdiction. I was leaning towards thinking it was a county issue and not a SB issue. If they lock the gates it would only keep you from leaving the bike path and entering SB, there is nothing along the path that would block access to the path as long as your on it.

CAT7RDR

So one can ride in bike lanes in Seal Beach but not a bike trail? Why not just close it just south of the PCH bridge if there are too many people at the beach/parking lot? Imagine there are commuters still working getting the royal city screw on this decision.

2seven0

Seal Beach is closing the SGRT and will be handing out citations[/QUOTE]

Does this mean the bums will get citations too LOL??

TakingMyTime

From what I can see on Google Maps... the border of Seal Beach begins at the 405 Fwy crossing. That housing tract in the section between the 405 and 7th street is actually in Seal Beach. If they enforce it that far North on the SGRT that's really going to suck.

2seven0

Yeah I think it's called "College Park North" between Studebaker & the trail.

DrIsotope

They pre-emptively closed the north end of the SART by beginning "maintenance" in February and ripping half a mile of the trail completely out of the ground-- pre-outbreak it was scheduled to be closed through the end of July. Which in real terms means October. Which now probably means 2021.

TakingMyTime

My buddy rode down to Seal Beach yesterday and said that the only part of the SGRT that was closed was the final stretch that runs along the jetty. The stretch between PCH and Marina Drive still had the gates open.

Digger Goreman

Does this mean the bums will get citations too LOL??[/QUOTE]
That's a cruel attitude....

skidder

Here's the link to the L.A. County Parks website:

https://parks.lacounty.gov/covid-19-032320/

The page mention that all county recreation trails are closed. to get to a specific trail you have to scroll down through the list of trail closures to find the San Gabriel River Trail, then click on it, and it gets you to the generic 'closure notice' page.

If it doesn't show up, just go the LA County Parks webpage and click on the COVID-19 banner at the top for the info. Not sure what Seal Beach is specifically going to do, but (As mentioned above by someone) maybe just close off access to the beach near the River outlet to discourage anyone from using that portion of it.

TakingMyTime

Wow! I read through part of that and it says the Los Angeles River Trail is closed. How can that be? I'm not exactly how to read the list but they're showing the SGRT closed too(?)

skidder

Yeah, I don't know how they would do it either. Maybe close the gates at county parks that border it, get the local cities that have bordering parks to close theirs, too, then have the sheriff and local police agencies along its length patrol their sections a few times a day (motorcycle cops were common on the SART during the homeless camp elimination period). I'm not that familiar with the SGRT, but the SART has plenty of open access points with no fencing, no gates to close, especially on the southern part between the beaches and stadium area in Anaheim where I usually ride.

skidder

Here's the latest from the OC Parks website. Its dated March 25 and I couldn't find a more recent updates:

https://www.ocgov.com/news/displayne...74,75,76,77,78

the end of the first bulleted paragraph states: Passive walk-through pedestrian, cycling, and equestrian activity is permitted.
I'll test it out this weekend on the SART. Anybody want to bail me out of jail if I get arrested for bicycling?

TakingMyTime

I'll start up a Go Fund Me page for you.

2seven0

I didn't ride the trail but this afternoon @ 2:30 on the way home from my shop I crossed over the SGRT at Rosecrans. No cars behind me so I slowed to get a good look up & down the trail. The gates were open, no "CLOSED" signs in sight and I saw several joggers & cyclists on the trail.
West

2seven0

My wife & I rode the SART this morning from Lincoln north to the end at Green River. Scattered cyclists, only 1 group of @ a dozen or so riders spaced out in pace-line fashion. There seemed to be as many if not more walkers/joggers than cyclists. No LEO's or City trucks in sight. Hope it remains open.
West

skidder

I went by it yesterday (Saturday) about noon in Huntington Beach at LeBard Park (where the footbridge is about 2 miles up from the beach). Holy smokes! Oodles of joggers, walkers, dog walkers, and bicycle riders (some seemed to be going way too fast for conditions). More of a 'social congregating' than a 'social distancing' situation.

Rode it this morning 6:30-8AM from PCH to 17 St footbridge in Santa Ana. Lightly occupied at the start, but noticeable more folks when I got back to the Atlanta Ave area in Huntington Beach. The volume of people seems to be a lot less in the Santa Ana/Garden Grove area than down near the beach in HB and Costa Mesa. FWIW: I didn't go under the PCH bridge to check out the MUP on Huntington State Beach.

2seven0

Rode it from Lincoln south, exited at Warner then took Ward south over to Magnolia then to PCH. FYI all the HB & Bolsa Chica lots (and the 2 at the cliffs) are closed but the bike path is open river jetties to PCH/Warner.
West

TakingMyTime

2seven0, thanks for that update.

Eggman84

For the most part the LA river and San Gabriel rivers are controlled by the US Corps of Engineers and Los Angeles County Public Works Flood Control. Cities do not have authority over the gates or right of way. That is why cities can not unilaterally remove homeless from the trail passing thru their city (i.e., the trail is technically not part of the city). Of course, recreational cyclists think all bike facilities should be locked, not thinking that their might actually be commuters now forced onto the streets.