Countywide : Trail to Be Detour-Free Until April 1

The Santa Ana River Trail, heavily used by bicycle riders, walkers, joggers and horseback riders, will be open without detours from the ocean to Yorba Linda during a three-month construction halt.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the midst of a $1.4-billion project to provide better floor protection along the river. The project, to be completed by 2000, has included rerouting parts of the 26-mile trail to permit construction.

The Corps on Jan. 1 halted construction for the winter and is not expected to resume work until April 1, said Terrie Medeiros, Orange County Environmental Management Agency project manager for the lower Santa Ana River.

The Orange County Bicycle Coalition, which has monitored the safety of the detours, plans a public bike ride Saturday to celebrate the three months of no construction.

“We want to encourage everybody to get out and enjoy the trail,” said Paul Pirtle, vice chairman of the group. “It’s been closed so long in so many places.”

The Bicycle Coalition riders will meet at 10 a.m. at Suburbia Park in Costa Mesa, on the south side of the junction of the river and the San Diego Freeway. Both short and long bicycle tours will be available to any bikers between 10 a.m. and noon, said Don Harvey, chairman of the Bicycle Coalition.

County officials estimate that at least half a million people use the trail annually.

The most recent detour sent people through Fountain Valley streets. Some county bicycle enthusiasts argued that the detour--sending users along Talbert Avenue, Newhope Street and Edinger Avenue to avoid construction--was dangerous. Bike riders suggested a path could be temporarily made in the river bed itself.

But county officials rejected that idea, saying a trail through the construction area would be unsafe.

Medeiros said there is now pavement on the east side of the river bank that varies from 10 to 12 feet. On the west side, to accommodate horses, the trail has been formed from decomposed granite, she said. Both trails are the maintenance roads for the river, she said.