See before-and-after photos of the Santa Ana River Trail with homeless people gone and trash cleaned up

The last of more than 700 homeless people living in the tent encampments at the Santa Ana River Trail left on Monday — 697 of them gone to motels.

In the days since, Orange County Public Works crews have cleared away most of the debris left behind on a roughly two-mile stretch from I-5 in Orange to Ball Road/Taft Avenue in Anaheim. It won’t be known until next week just how much trash, feces, discarded syringes and other hazardous waste was collected, said OC Public Works spokesman Shannon Widor.

The last official tally from the county was on Feb. 9, with these estimates:

215 tons of trash or debris
1,165 pounds of hazardous waste, including human and pet feces
5,115 needles

“These numbers are expected to go up significantly based on the ongoing clean-up,” Widor said Thursday.

Once the clean-up is done, county workers will do maintenance and repairs that could include removing 2 to 3 inches of soil in the project area and trimming trees. OC Public Works also plans to make improvements on the bike trail from Katella to Ball Road/Taft Avenue that includes sealing cracks and applying a slurry seal, Widor said.
There is no start date yet for that work, he added.

The maintenance was expected to take about three months when an initial start was made in late January, depending on weather or other issues. In the meantime, the area where the tent encampments were remains closed to the public. Access hours on the rest of the trail are now 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Oct. 31.

 
 
 

Source: Oc Register