ARTIST RENDERING of proposed “Rails to Trails” path that would link Garden Grove to Santa Ana (OCTA).

Would you like to be able to ride your bicycle – or walk – all the way from central Garden Grove to the Santa Ana River Trial along a landscaped bikeway?

A proposal to extend Garden Grove’s bike and pedestrian path all the way to Santa Ana is under consideration by the Orange County Transportation Authority.

In a recent report to the OCTA’s Regional Planning and Highways Committee, there’s a section on the “Bike Gap Closure Feasibility Study.” It will focus on gaps in the county’s bikeway network.

Garden Grove is planned as part of the Cross County Connector intended to eventually run from La Palma in the northwest to San Clemente in the south coast.

What’s proposed to help fill in that network is the “Garden Grove-Santa Ana Rails to Trails Gap Closure Project.” It would run for four miles mostly along the former Pacific Electric right-of-way (along with a stretch adjacent to the Wintersburg flood control channel).

The project would cost an estimated $42,327,000. Included in that estimate is $3 million for project approval and environmental documents, $3.87 million for plans, specifications and estimates, $8.57 million for right-of-way acquisition and $26.8 million for construction.

As envisioned, the “gap closure” would run from the area of Euclid Street (south of Garden Grove Boulevard) southeast along the old Pacific Electric right-of-way – owned by the OCTA – and pass the Willowick Golf Course on its way to the Santa Ana River. There, cyclists could hop on the River Trail heading north or south or continue into Santa Ana to Raitt Street where the route could feed into a separated bikeway into that city’s downtown.

Part of the bikeway would parallel the under-construction OCStreetcar connecting the two cities.

A map of the route shows planned bike path extensions in Garden Grove from the existing path between Nelson and Brookhurst streets running north and south. The southern leg would connect with the proposed “gap closure” and the northern portion toward Chapman Avenue and across Gilbert Street.

The “gap” project also would include a 0.85-mile transition path along the Wintersburg Channel to Hazard Avenue, where a separated bikeway is planned, running from Santa Ana on the east through a small portion of Garden Grove and into Westminster.

The study on the proposal is funded by funds from two state agencies and is expected to be completed by spring 2023.