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Date: February 28, 2024
District: 12 (Orange County)
Contact: Christianne Smith
Phone: (424) 413-1104
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Caltrans, Huntington Beach Break Ground on Clean California Project that Will Install Drought-Tolerant Landscaping and Improve Safety
HUNTINGTON BEACH – Caltrans and the city of Huntington Beach today celebrated a groundbreaking for the Oak View Neighborhood Cleanup and Beautification Project, which will include drought-tolerant landscaping, public art and safety improvements.
The groundbreaking was held at Oak View Elementary School with Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark, residents and Caltrans representatives. The project was made possible by a $5 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. Huntington Beach provided a local match of $1.5 million toward the project.
“Clean California provides opportunities for Caltrans and communities to work together to transform public spaces that all Californians can take pride in and better enjoy,” said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares. “Our investment in this project will increase safety and beautify a neighborhood that deserves it.”
Project beautification elements will include shade trees, water-efficient irrigation and artistic crosswalk painting. Safety improvements are expected to be completed by this summer and will include traffic striping, traffic and street signage, pedestrian lights, sidewalk paving, curb ramps, tactile warning strips, and roadway improvements.
The project will also feature a “Keep Your Neighborhood Clean and Beautiful” campaign and a monthly cleanup event designed to help prevent illegal dumping by collecting bulky household waste items.
Since launching Clean California in July 2021, the program has funded 319 projects statewide to revitalize and beautify underserved communities, some of which are already complete and now sources of community pride. Projects are improving public spaces, tribal lands, parks, neighborhoods, transit centers, walking paths, streets, roadsides, recreation fields, community gathering spots, and places of cultural importance or historical interest in underserved communities.
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 to address litter.
Statewide under the program, Caltrans has removed nearly 2.2 million cubic yards of litter from state highways – or enough to fill 670 Olympic-size swimming pools. The program has also created more than 15,000 jobs that have helped Californians overcome barriers to employment and drawn more than 10,000 volunteers to events ranging from community cleanups to large debris collections for appliances, tires and mattresses.
For downloadable video footage of the event, visit https://youtu.be/cLOehiIBoJo?si=gEapGKSOaPUoeDNd.
For more information, visit CleanCA.com.
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