Weeklong closure of Bristol St. set to begin on Friday night for OC Streetcar rail work

As the OC Streetcar nears an important milestone in preparation of track being set, Bristol Street will close to through traffic between First Street and Civic Center Drive in Santa Ana for up to seven days beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4.

Construction crews will work around the clock during the closure to excavate and prepare the track bed for the westbound track installation. Bristol is scheduled to reopen to traffic in the area by 5 a.m. Friday, Dec. 11.

OC Bus traffic, including Route 57 and others that use Bristol Street through Santa Ana, also will be detoured around the closure on those days. For updated information, visit www.ocbus.com.

A similar extended closure will be scheduled for early 2021 to complete work in the eastbound direction.

The Orange County Transportation Authority, which is building the OC Streetcar, worked with the contractor and the city of Santa Ana to expedite the work and have less of an impact during the holiday season. The previous plan was for extended street closures over several periods of time.

Detour signs will be in place. Drivers are asked to plan ahead, use alternate routes and plan for potential delays in the area.

The track preparation work is necessary to begin setting the first segments of track for the OC Streetcar – a major milestone anticipated to begin later this month. The first segments of rail for the streetcar are being pulled into the project zone this week.

The OC Streetcar will run on a 4.1-mile route through Santa Ana and Garden Grove. It is scheduled to begin testing and operations in late 2022.

The OC Streetcar route will serve Santa Ana’s thriving downtown and dense employment areas that include county and local government offices and courthouses in the Civic Center. The streetcar will carry passengers between the busy Santa Ana transportation center and a transit stop at Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue in Garden Grove, running along Santa Ana Boulevard, Fourth Street and the Pacific Electric right-of-way and connecting with OCTA’s busiest bus routes.

Updated project information is also available via a mobile app that provides work locations, a business resource guide and project photos. The free OC Streetcar app can be downloaded via the Apple Store and for Android devices at Google Play.

For more information on the project, visit www.ocstreetcar.com.