mwandaw

You have pointed out blunders of bike transportation planners in the past, and I appreciate the fact that you report them. However, I think this addition to the Coyote Creek bike path is overall a good thing:

1. Even "isolated" bike paths can be useful. For example, I regularly ride on the Stanton Creek Bike Path, and I always see other bikers, joggers and walkers. It's about as isolated as any path in an urban setting can be, but it is regularly used.
2. Given the current political climate, it's unrealistic to think that the whole length of Coyote Creek will be developed and opened all at once. I say even an "isolated" addition should count as progress as long as everyone keeps their eyes on the goal of a complete path.

Here's a screen print showing the Stanton Creek Bike Path, because it's pretty hard to find!

marquhar

Behringer Park Area & Hillsborough Drive

Bike lanes on Hillsborough are new. The City of La Mirada paid for this out of a $510,000 project which also improved things on Santa Gertrudes. Only a few months ago there was nothing here which supported bikes and I remember very little riding room. What an improvement.

I noticed this today while doing an 8 mile loop which has an edge on Alicante and Behringer Park. Only the short section of the Coyote Creek trail between Imperial Highway and Hillsborough is on bike path. The rest of the loop is street level.

BTW Hillsborough has a 40 MPH speed limit. There is a busy sub-division off Highpoint, so much of the traffic peels off and the rest of the hill is calmer.

As for the I-5 Project: the eastbound lanes of the I-5 are starting to open up. I also see landscape workers cleaning the borders of the old CC bike path south off Alondra, however the path itself is still covered in dirt, and the path under the I-5 has a pile 8-10 feet high. Still the newly opened Alondra Bridge is a huge benefit to riders and is an easy way to go over the I-5.

marquhar

Final Countdown to the Grand Reopening of the Bike Path on the North Fork of CC

-- New gate at Swap Meet to access the bike path (currently double padlocked)

-- all the dirt has been removed from the path, including the huge pile under the I-5 (but ramp access is closed)

-- the private pedestrian bridge blocking the path was taken down and disassembled (good riddance)

It should be a matter of 10 days or less now. There will be access/exit from the Swap Meet and off the South side of Alondra bridge, where there is a steep ramp leading down to the path going under the I-5.

Leo90604

Thanks for the update. Did people use to start their ride from swap meet? Just wondering if you guys noticed people parking and riding to Seal Beach.

marquhar

Quote: Did people use to start their ride from swap meet? Just wondering if you guys noticed people parking and riding to Seal Beach?

This current f'd up situation dates to April 2012, but in those intervening 3 years I have seen many folks do a Park & Ride at the RV Dealer on FIrestone Frontage Road. So they park on Firestone, right next to the entrance to CC bike path, and avoid having to ride through the I-5 project area or crossing the the I-5 on a bike, which usually meant going over the Carmenita Bridge.

It seems they were going South from there, which is the path of least resistance.

I am very surprised at the amount of homeless camps along CC and even down in the channel. When you stand along the Alondra Bridge, I can easily see camps of 20-30 people. This is new in the last 3 years. Is there any chance that they are Security for the I-5 Project? One camp is exactly where the Private Pedestrian bridge crossed over to the `Dynamic Worldwide` walkway.

Some of the camp equipment looks very new, like they bought it recently at REI. LOL

Rick@OCRR

It will be great to have the whole Coyote Creek path open again; all the way from Foster to the connection with the SGRT. Now it's do-able cutting through from Firestone over the Alondra bridge . . . but far from ideal.

Hopefully it will open up some time this year.

Rick / OCRR

cec rider

Checked it out this morning, and it looks like they are real close to opening the FWY 5 underpass. There is just a courtesy fence with bike tracks going under the FWY, I could not try it because of a work crew & truck present, appears clear all the way through.

Rick@OCRR

Thanks for the update cec rider! My work commute uses the upper bit of the Coyote Creek MUP but I didn't go further South to check it out. Tomorrow I will!

Rick / OCRR

cec rider

Rode the Mountain Bike under FWY 5 yesterday(on a Sunday, no work crews). A lot of dirt and debris but you can get through.

Rick@OCRR

Thanks for the update; I don't have a mountain bike but my commute bike has rugged tires on it, so should be ride-able!

Rick / OCRR

marquhar

Sunday, Mother's day:
Rode the I-5 underpass for the first time in 3 years.
Came up from the South riding a Roadie with 23mm tires, noticed that the Artesia Detour is still marked, claiming that the Bike Path is closed. However I continued on to Firestone, the temp fence is gone, but the sand washout is still there. Under the freeway, good news is the lights are on and help with vision, bad news is you can clearly see a couple of hanging steel cables dangerously close over the trail (could knock you out on impact), and still plenty of sand, and some glass.

I exited onto the steep ramp leading up to the Alondra Bridge, then rode out to La Mirada Blvd.

I emailed the LA Public Works bike coordinator to confirm the opening date, he replied 5-15-2015, hmm seems like more Numerology, like OCTA with their 66 miles of trials.

mwandaw

Good news! Thanks for the update.

I'm hoping the cosmic forces will align, and it will actually happen!

Rick@OCRR

Thanks for the further update! Looks like they are getting close to a fully open Coyote Creek Trail . . . after so many years it's been closed.

May have to give it a try tomorrow!

Rick / OCRR

grampa.sjb

Nice to have Coyote Creek back! Still some gravel and mud on the concrete under the 5 et al, but nothing too bad. Much better than having to go down into the creek and back up.

marquhar

Memorial Day Prep

Rode up to Alondra Bridge on CC bike path from Cerritos. You can see that almost every road level access gate to the trail is thrown wide open. This means that LA Co PW trucks have been working and accessing the bike path.

Almost all of the access ways have been swept and cleaned up: no glass, no sticks, and visibly free of any gravel.

This is great for the holiday riders until they try to pass through the I-5 project area. Nothing has been done for over 3 weeks. Somehow the cleanup crews neglected this whole area: from north of Artesia to above the SFS Swap meet. The I-5 underpass is still thick with sand. This should be easy for them to clean if anyone cared.

If anyone tries to access the bike path via the new Swap Meet gate, please report any harassment by Swap Meet security. Get names if possible. They called the Whittier cops on me for taking pictures of the Pedestrian Bridge. I was followed through the Industrial Park and out over the Carmenita bridge, which is exactly what riders are supposed to do according to the Caltrans Detour. So they harassed me for turning around and doing what I was supposed to do. This was about 14 months ago.

I will try and get the bike coordinator for the county to fix the messy bike path.

Rick@OCRR

I rode the whole Coyote Creek MUP from Foster to the SGRT intersection, then on the Seal Beach on Sunday (before Memorial Day) and while there is still dirt and sand in the Hwy 5 project area, I rode with my 23mm road tires on my fixed gear bike . . . no problem.

First time I've done this ride in 3+ years, so yes, it's great to have Coyote Creek back and fully open (even it, true, not completely clean yet).

Rick / OCRR

grampa.sjb

I hear that gravel biking is the hot new thing!

JSMaxwell

Rode it myself from Seal Beach to Foster and back on Memorial Day. Plenty of signs saying its still closed, but its paved all the way.

There is a enough sand under the underpasses to make it prudent to slow down.

Finally.

marquhar

Sweeping in Progress

Today at 12:30pm I rode up on this sweeper as they headed under the I-5 Freeway on the CC bike path
.

TrojanHorse

I rode CCT today for giggles and although I took a few wrong turns and ended up on the wrong side for a bit, the trail is completely open and clean. There are still signs saying it's closed but it's not.

Leo90604

I tried to enter from Alondra and 5 fwy on swap meet side. There was a padlock on both the small door size fence and one for the sliding one. Is there supposed to be an entrance from that side? I had to go across to enter.


CCT path is very clean except for a speaker box I saw.

marquhar

@Leo90604-"tried to enter from Alondra and 5 fwy on swap meet side. There was a padlock on the small door size"

And now there is barb wire on a 14' high fence too. Looks like they have plans for something more than they used to have before the I-5 project.

Yes there is supposed to be an entrance that is unlocked and unguarded- as if there is no Swap Meet. Here's why. The LA County will tell you that the Swap Meet leases land from them, under a permit which allows riders to freely pass to and from the CC bike path and the Freeway Dr. For some reason (maybe since rich guys from Newport Beach run the Swap Meet), they think they can make their own rules.

Its clear that the Swap Meet people stigmatize the bike path users and treat them as an underclass, even below their esteemed 3rd world customers. They are in the wrong.

As long as nobody from the SFS Code enforcement or the LA County PW takes action, and forces the Swap Meet to operate under the terms of their permits, then riders will suffer.

I've discussed free access for riders through the Swap Meet Lot many times with the LA County PW bike coordinator. The current situation is not the first time riders have been excluded. Same thing happened with the Private Pedestrian bridge, starting in Jan 2014. Same thing happened when the Caltrans Contractor and the Swap Meet fenced over the gate (while the bridge and Freeway Dr. were still open) in Feb 2013. Each time I contacted the coordinator and tried to light a fire under them. They usually blamed the trouble on SFS Public Works. I did get a hearing and the coordinator agreed that riders rights were harmed.

Like you, I've been entering/exiting the CC bike path off the south side of the bridge, up/down the steep ramp.
AFAIK, Caltrans, SFS, and LA County PW (bike coordinator) are aware of the situation, but the gates are still locked 24/7.