Metro Recommends Bike Improvements for the San Fernando Valley

Big news coming out of Metro this week with their announcement for funding recommendations for their biennial Call for Projects. There are a lot of interesting proposals the future, but remember none of them are officially funded and

The good news is that the valley should be getting some help, especially in the manner helping us move across from east to west. Overall, they are good steps, but I hope they help encourage bigger things in the future.

Let’s have a look at some of the bike improvements that may be coming to the San Fernando Valley:

Chandler Cycle Tracks. 

If you frequent the Orange line bike path and the Chandler Bikeway from either direction ofthe North Hollywood Red Line station, you’ll notice a large gap without protected bike lanes along Chandler Blvd. Currently, bike lanes do cover this entire stretch, but there are a couple portions where I wish I felt more protected.

Chandler Pop Up Cycle Tracks

This 3.1 mile addition will be a welcome complement to the burgeoning NoHo Arts District and to the future connecting Great Streets project on Lankershim. Of course, expect some pushback from the homeowners between Tujunga and Leghorn.

(Note: the following projects are below the funding line and are not being recommended my Metro. Thanks to Jeff Jacobberger)

LA River Path Extension – Vanalden to Reseda.

Most people don’t know there’s a River path in the west Valley, but it slowly keeps extending. This newest addition may only be 3/4 of a mile, but it will greatly enhance its usefulness because of its dynamics. When I go across the valley, I take the Orange Line path, then cut up to the eastern portion of the river path.

LA River Bike Path at Tampa
LA River Bike Path at Tampa

Because of its location, entering traffic to get to the Vanalden entrance is dicey. By extending the path, you can easily hop off the Orange Line Path at Reseda Blvd. and take bike lanes right up to the river. Now, if they could only slow down street traffic along this stretch.

Ramp Connection between LA River and Orange Line Bike Paths

I’ve tried getting onto the Canoga Ave. portion of the Orange Line Path from the LA River and constantly fail. The first couple times I missed Canoga completely.

Then when I did locate it, crossing Canoga without a streetlight at Bassett was extremely dangerous trying to look around a blind curve. Once you do make that turn, you either have to stop in traffic to lift your bike onto the path or navigate the speeding cars for another block.

I don’t know exactly how this connection will get resolved or if they’ll replace the dirt on this portion of the bike path with concrete, but either way, this will be a huge improvement.