Just ONE of the local access issues for the SART in the City of Orange:

What happened at the SART access from Orange Olive Road at East Riverdale Avenue in Orange ?

The way it WAS:
(Note even GOOGLE MAPS still shows & routes bikes on the old East access)



Just West of the tracks, on East Riverdale Avenue there was a curb cut to a popular staging area with parking,
a gate for maintenance access to SART and an opening in the fence for trail users with a paved connector.
Just East of the tracks there was a trail access gate with an open PAVED access gap for trail users to SART.
A few years ago a cell phone array was added to the old SCE power line tower, and the old hard pack dirt was
torn up and backfilled with sand.  The paved access opening was not re-sealed when the access road was resurfaced,
and the closed gate says NO TRESPASSING (on SART?)

Here is what the staging area looked like

Nice curb cut, parking for maybe 10 cars if well parked, signed no overnight parking,
monument to De Anza's camp just left of the drive way.
Fence on near right side separated the staging area from the rail road tracks.

On the East side it looked like this:


The paved connector was clearly torn up from cell array addition several years ago.
A large utility box was set in soft sand where the connector used to be. SART pavement ends at
the gate (here shown wide open) and the pass through opening to the right of the gate is there,
but pavement has degraded.  Connection is obviously in use daily by bikes that can manage
the dirt to the curb of East Riverdale Avenue. The degradation of this access to SART was
tolerable as the staging area left another access on the West side of the tracks for road bikes.

But then it got WORSE!

NOW the railroad has been improving THEIR crossings through Orange and have completely eliminated the
legitimate access to SART.  More riders are now using the abandoned East access because the West staging area
has been fenced off.
The curb cut was removed and curbing was installed. The staging / parking area is now open to SART but not to
the street at all.  A new access gate has been installed about 200 feet west of the tracks, and a nice new sign says
"Bike Trail 200"but teh access gate has no pedestrian / cyclist / equestrian access gap, and is always locked.

Here is the fenced of staging area on July 18th 2010:   November 13 it is unchanged.

It is nice that they left the historical marker (brick block on left) in place but there is no sidewalk or path to get to it!


I am sure The Orange Bicentennial Commission would probably rather have this monument put
inside the fence or along teh SART where it could be read.
...and if landscaped with a wall, some ground cover, a water faucet, hitching post & port-o-let,
it could serve as a nice picnic area for SART trail users to enjoy - well off the bike way.

The old gate (locked) is now INSIDE the fenced area on the West side - accessed only from SART,
and the access gap is still there as well... but a NO TRESPASS sign has been added to the back fence.

Who owns this vacant lot? Or the vacant space on the east side of the tracks? The PUBLIC?

Most distressing is that enough local pedestrians and bikes have created a clear path through
the brush on the SART side of this fenced off lot, just to get around this fenced off area, and
then along the tracks to get to the street!
Obviously the intent was to keep people away from the tracks, but this fence is actually
feeding them onto the railroad right of way!

With no developed or maintained legitimate access, the people have traveled where they can
& created these 'natural' connectors: (Orange lines)

Orange Lines = 'Natural' paths of travel in use now (Obvious from soil erosion, foot prints & tire tracks)
Red Lines = Chain Link fences
Blue Line = Class 2 on street bike lane
Green Lines = Legal routes for cyclists to and from 'Natural' paths
Yellow Lines = Questionably legal routes;
Northbound from a dual left or right lane...
East bound left turn from SART to get to the Bike Lane

Notice that the City of Orange provides NO CROSS WALKS to help pedestrians get across
East Riverdale or Orange Olive! 

Wouldn't it be nice if OCParks got the cell phone company to replace the paved connector
they destroyed on the East side of the tracks?  

And if the City of Orange added a complete Class 2 bike lane in BOTH directions, and a cross walk or two?
And a through lane for bikes to proceed North to the SART... 
and some Sharrows where the street is to narrow for a Class 2 lane?

The County could even consider extending the new acces gate, allowing people to drive into the old
staging area & park; add a few amenities & relocate the historical monument...   
How much better would this look?



If you agree or want to see improvements, Please contact OC Parks, OC Parks Comission, City of Orange,
the SART Official Community Website and the Orange County Bicycle Coalition!