Anaheim broke ground on River Park on October 7, a 3.4-acre park on the strip of land between Angel Stadium and the Santa Ana River Trail, near Orangewood Avenue and the 57 Freeway. It will be the city's 69th park and the sixth in the Platinum Triangle. It will also open without a parking lot. According to the city's River Park fact sheet, there is "no initial onsite parking." You get in on foot or by bike from the Santa Ana River Trail, or you walk over from the ARTIC transit center.
So the trail is the front door. This month, that matters more than it will once the park opens. Every car approach to this corner of Anaheim is in the middle of a multiyear rebuild. The 57 Freeway work runs through 2028 and the Orangewood Avenue bridge work runs through 2030. The new park is set up for the people who already reach the river by bike or on foot.
A $200,000 Parcel Left Over From a Trail Realignment
The land under River Park was never meant to be a park. Anaheim bought it from the Orange County Flood Control District for $200,000 in 2023, after part of the Santa Ana River Trail was realigned. The trail shifted and left behind a usable sliver of riverbank beside the stadium. The park is being built on that sliver.
The park itself costs $4.5 million, more than twenty times the price of the land. Grants are paying for it, including money from the National Park Service's Land and Water Conservation Fund, the State Coastal Conservancy, the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy and the Natural Resources Agency's Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program. Urban Habitat, a Palm Desert firm, is the builder.
Those funders all focus on rivers, conservancy land and outdoor recreation. That helps explain why the park is planned around the trail and not around a driveway off the stadium lot. The city expects it to open in 2027.
What Fits on 3.4 Acres
The plan puts a lot into a small footprint. According to the city's fact sheet, River Park will include:
- A 6,160-square-foot playground with slides, swings, climbing structures, spinners, a zip line, bridges, built-in shade and musical panels, designed for all ages and abilities
- Walking trails, foot bridges, exercise equipment and picnic tables
- A canoe sculpture honoring the ti'ats that the Gabrielino-Tongva people used to travel the Santa Ana River
- A poem by Anaheim Poet Laureate Camille Hernandez printed on a walking path
- Interpretive panels about native plants and wildlife
- A concrete word sculpture that spells out "Play," plus a welcoming gateway sign
- The first sundial in any Anaheim city park
The city's groundbreaking announcement says the Big A will serve as the park's backdrop. Most of these features work best for someone who has time to stop. The playground, picnic tables and exercise equipment are built for a rest stop on a ride or a run. The canoe sculpture and the native-plant panels both point back toward the river.
The First Two Miles of Something Larger
River Park is phase one of OC River Walk, a proposal to rework 2 miles of the Santa Ana River alongside Angel Stadium and Honda Center. The plan calls for year-round water, parks, plazas, walking bridges, public art and trails. The full project is estimated at more than $200 million and would be built over years with regional, state and federal funding.
The water piece is the hardest part, and it is still being studied. A $5 million grant from the California State Coastal Conservancy is paying to study inflatable dams that would hold a standing basin of water in the river channel. The fact sheet lists early planning and studies continuing through 2030. Updates are posted at OCRiverwalk.com.
Parking ties back into this larger plan. The city says parking could eventually be added as part of OC River Walk or any future development of the stadium site. Until then, the park is reached the way the trail has always been reached.
Across Katella Avenue, a second park is coming. Meadow Park is a planned 4.75-acre public park near ARTIC inside OCVibe, the 92-acre development around Honda Center. It will have walking trails, a playground, fitness zones and an open stage, and an eventual foot bridge over Katella will connect to it. It is expected to open in 2028. The two parks together come to just over 8 acres of new green space, both within walking distance of ARTIC.
The Car Routes Are the Ones Under Construction
The trail is the steady option for getting to River Park. The roads around it are another story this fall. Here is what the city and OCTA have scheduled near the site:
| Project | Who's building it | What it changes | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 57 Freeway northbound improvement | OCTA with Caltrans | Adds a northbound lane from Orangewood Avenue and upgrades the merge lane from the Orangewood off-ramp to the Katella off-ramp; $135 million | Began 2026, expected through 2028 |
| Orangewood Avenue bridge widening | City of Anaheim Public Works, with funding from the city of Orange; contractor Guy F. Atkinson Construction | Widens the bridge over the Santa Ana River and adds retaining walls, a waterline, rebuilt bike trails, fencing, bridge lighting and new paving; $24 million | 2026, expected through 2030 |
| River Park | City of Anaheim; builder Urban Habitat | 3.4-acre trail-side park | Groundbreaking Oct. 7, 2026; opening expected 2027 |
| Meadow Park at OCVibe | Anaheim Real Estate Partners | 4.75-acre park near ARTIC | Expected 2028 |
The Orangewood bridge project matters most to trail users because it includes rebuilding the bike trails at the river crossing. The city of Orange is helping pay for it. That makes sense because Orangewood Avenue links the two cities across the river.
What's on the calendar in November
OCTA's construction alert dated November 9 lists two jobs scheduled for the second half of the month.
On S. Douglass Road, between the railroad bridge and the Stadium bridge, crews are pouring concrete for new columns at the Stadium bridge near the northbound 57. The work calls for intermittent daytime lane reductions from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, November 16 through Friday, November 20.
At the northbound 57 bridge over the Santa Ana River, OCTA expects a concrete pour as early as mid- to late November. The plan calls for full closures of the northbound Katella Avenue off-ramp, the northbound Orangewood Avenue loop on-ramp and the northbound Orangewood straight on-ramp. It also calls for northbound lane reductions from Chapman Avenue to Katella. OCTA says the schedule can shift with weather or operational issues.
That work follows an earlier pour scheduled for the new section of the northbound 57 bridge over Orangewood Avenue. That job was planned overnight from 11 p.m. Friday, November 6, to 7 a.m. Saturday, November 7, with Orangewood closed in both directions. The pours keep moving toward the river.
Current closures and the detour map are posted on the OCTA 57 Northbound project page. The outreach team can be reached at 800-440-0457 or [email protected].
The Rest of the Calendar Around the Stadium
OCVibe's first phase is expected to welcome guests in March 2027, with its restaurants following at the end of that year. According to OCVibe's announcement, the lineup includes Osen Urban Table in the district's Urban Park and Osen Handroll at Katella Commons, both from Orange County's Osen Hospitality Group.
The 57 Freeway lane is expected to be done in 2028, the same year Meadow Park is expected to open. The Orangewood bridge, with its rebuilt bike trails, runs through 2030, when the OC River Walk studies are also scheduled to wrap up. River Park opens in the middle of all this, on a parcel the city bought for $200,000. For now, the trail is the only way in.
We follow projects like River Park and the Orangewood bridge because they change how people get around near the stadium for years. If you own a home near the river or in the Platinum Triangle and want to know how this construction calendar fits your plans, Monarch Home Group can walk you through it street by street. When you're ready, start with a free market valuation.
