IRVINE : 2nd Part of Creek Project Set to Begin

Construction is scheduled to begin next week on the second phase of an improvement project for a two-mile stretch of San Diego Creek.

Already, workers have built a bike and walking path, paved the channel and made other modifications to a portion of the creek that runs from Sand Canyon Avenue to California 133 in the Spectrum area of Irvine.

Officials hope to have similar improvements completed by early next year to a stretch of the creek from California 133 to the San Diego Freeway, said project manager Russ Thiele.

The $15-million project has been underway for several years. Workers have replaced the natural dirt channel with a soil-cement embankment that is designed to resemble the native creek bed.

Drainage improvements are also in the process of being completed, as is the planting of new willow trees next to the creek channel. The trees will replace those that had to be removed as part of the construction.

Thiele said the tree plantings are designed to preserve the natural habitat and wildlife of the area. Workers took great care to preserve as many trees as possible, but it was “impossible to save some of them,” he said.

A portion of the bike and hiking trail between Sand Canyon Avenue and California 133 is already open.