Contact: Christianne Smith
Phone: (424) 413-1104
SANTA ANA – Caltrans and the City of Santa Ana celebrated the completion of the Clean California King Street Urban Greening Project on July 1, which includes the grand opening of King Street Park.
The project was made possible by a $1.49 million grant through Governor Gavin Newsom’s Clean California initiative – a sweeping $1.2 billion, multiyear cleanup effort led by Caltrans to remove trash, create thousands of jobs and engage communities to transform public spaces. The project also received local and federal funds totaling $600,000.
Hosted in the new park at the intersection of 10th and King Streets, the ribbon cutting ceremony was attended by city officials, residents and Caltrans representatives.
“Clean California provided an opportunity for Caltrans and the City of Santa Ana to work together toward our shared goal of improving equity and livability in our local communities,” said Lan Zhou, Caltrans District 12 Director. “This project boosts morale, creates safer gathering spaces, and creates a more environmentally resilient neighborhood for generations to come.”
The new 10,000 square-foot park includes two bioretention basins with plant, soil and gravel layers designed to filter out pollutants as stormwater flows into the underground infiltration system. This system can capture up to 117,000 gallons of stormwater per storm and provides filtered water in the Santa Ana River watershed, helping enhance local water supplies and reduce flooding.
Park features also include drought-tolerant landscaping, shade trees, bike and pedestrian paths, educational signs with litter abatement and watershed facts, community art features, a new mural, and energy-conserving lights.
“The City of Santa Ana is thankful to Caltrans for their continued partnership and ongoing support for a sustainable future in Santa Ana,” said Mayor Valerie Amezcua. “Their generous $1.5 million grant for the King Street Urban Greening Project funded an innovative approach in managing stormwater runoff and helped us deliver another multi-benefit project to our residents. Caltrans and the Clean California Initiative is helping the City take significant strides toward creating a healthier and more resilient community.”
Since launching Clean California in July 2021, Caltrans and its local partners have picked up more than 2.5 million cubic yards of litter – enough to cover nine lanes of Interstate 5 with an inch of trash from San Diego to the Canadian border. This represents a substantial increase compared to the department’s previous trash collection efforts and can largely be attributed to Clean California, along with other Caltrans litter removal efforts. Caltrans has hosted more than 500 free dump days in communities throughout the state – resulting in the collection of 12,000-plus mattresses and nearly 50,000 tires. The initiative has drawn more than 10,000 community clean-up volunteers and created 15,000 jobs, including positions for individuals who were formerly incarcerated, on probation, or experiencing housing insecurity.
In Orange County alone, Clean California has invested more than $60 million, including $15 million in local grant projects, $22 million in highway roadside improvement projects and $23 million toward litter collection efforts.
To learn more about Clean California's impact in Orange County, visit dot.ca.gov/D12CleanCA.
For more information about transportation and other infrastructure projects funded with state and federal investments, visit RebuildingCA.ca.gov and Build.ca.gov.
On the left: Stormwater filters through the park's drought tolerant landscape to be processed by an underground infiltration system.
On the right: Bicycle and pedestrian paths from Fairview Avenue to King and 10th Streets.
Caltrans District 12 Director Lan Zhou speaks about Clean California - a funding source of the project.
Entry way to the new pocket park.
The formerly underutilized lot at the intersection of 10th and King Streets.