Southern California - New Home, New Route...in OC (SART)

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cradduck
01-25-09, 12:51 AM
My previous commute to work took me along PCH the entire way (work off of Superior and PCH), but with a new home comes a new commute. I now live on Fairview at the Costa Mesa/Santa Ana border. I was thinking of taking the SART back and forth between McCarthur and PCH, but wanted to get some opinions first.

I work from 3pm till midnight. Is taking the SART a problem at night in terms of safety? Anything I should be aware of or look out for on the SART?

Any advice is much appreciated!

LewisAClark
01-25-09, 08:23 PM
Riding at night is a sketchy proposition in the best of conditions:twitchy:. I ply that tral on weekends and it has been my observation that there has been a substantial increase in tagging and graffiti beginning at the Christmas break and it does not seem to have let up:mad:. It seems primarily restricted between Lincoln and Macarthur, so maybe you'll be okay, but beware.
cradduck
01-25-09, 10:29 PM
Thanks for the heads up. Looks like I will just be riding up to triangle square and taking the bus home at night. I would really like to ride home at night (not relying on the bus), but it has been a uphill battle trying to find a safe route home.

It may just be 5 miles of riding on sidewalks :(

rooftest
01-26-09, 12:59 AM
It may just be 5 miles of riding on sidewalks :(

I wouldn't if I were you - you're more likely to get run over on the sidewalk.
idoru2005
02-04-09, 02:15 PM
Thanks for the heads up. Looks like I will just be riding up to triangle square and taking the bus home at night. I would really like to ride home at night (not relying on the bus), but it has been a uphill battle trying to find a safe route home. :(

That sounds like the safest bet. I would never ride Harbor Blvd (night or day), and especially at night.
OC Roadie
02-04-09, 05:41 PM
In general that's not a 'bad' area of SART, but I still wouldn't want to ride it at midnight. The area around the wood bridge seems to be a hang out, because there's always broken glass and empty 12 packs around there in the mornings. Also, if you're coming from Fairview, take Sunflower until it ends. There's a small paved bike path that starts right there at Sunflower and Cadillac, it puts you on SART and will save you a couple of minutes and Sunflower is more bike friendly than MacArthur.