Author: Mirin Fader
On Sept. 1, The Los Angeles City Board of Public Works granted $5,760,000 for the first phase of construction of the West San Fernando Valley’s Greenway Project, according to the Bureau of Engineering Project Information Report. The Greenway project will create new bike paths and fund bridge widening and rehabilitation to enhance the park setting of the neighboring communities of Winnetka and Reseda.
Construction is scheduled to begin this October and is expected to be completed by March 2012.
“There are multiple benefits in transforming the streets of L.A. and implementing new bike lanes, including helping connect L.A. together, allowing people to get around different parts of the city,” urban and environmental policy Professor Mark Vallianatos said in an interview.
Vallianatos and the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute of Oxy have contributed to the L.A. River Project through their 2009 Sports L.A. Bike and 2010 Street Summit, both events aiming to promote greener streets. This movement for a more environmentally friendly city has spread throughout the valley.
The Greenway project was inspired by the 2002 Los Angeles Times article “Bridges are Roadblocks for L.A. River Bikeway” by Caitlin Liu that underscored the San Fernando Valley community’s absence of continuous bikeway paths that link through and under their bridges. According to the article, Bridges blocked bike paths and obstructed city bicycle transportation.
“The Greenway project will accommodate under-passing between bike paths and bridges while improving habitat restoration, wildlife protection, multi-usage paths, solar lighting, bio swale rainwater draining, water improvement and smart irrigation in order to revitalize the river and bikeways of San Fernando Valley,” said Greenway Project Engineer Ryan Toles in a phone interview. This vital bridge continuity has enabled the Greenway Project to be the first portion of the Los Angeles River Revitalization located upstream of the Sepulveda Basin.
The project is part of the larger Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan by the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering and the Bridge Improvement Program, which aims to revitalize all 32 miles of the L.A. River.
The L.A. River Revitalization Master Plan aims to invigorate the community surrounding the river and pathways as well.
“The River’s Future: A Vision for Revitalization,” part of Chapter Two of the Master Plan, includes goals for the prosperity of the Project, including “Green the neighborhoods,” “Capture community opportunities,” and “Create value.” Creating value entails “improving the quality of life for residents and empowering communities by providing an equitable distribution of opportunities such as neighborhood enhancement and economic reinvestment for underserved neighborhoods along the river.”
According to Toles, funding will be provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Bicycle Transportation Account and State Resource Agency Proposition 50.
According to the July 2010 Los Angeles Bike Plan by the Los Angeles City Departments of City Planning and Transportation: “We would like to make the city of Los Angeles a bicycle-friendly community to increase and improve bicycling in the city as a safe, healthy and enjoyable means of transportation and recreation.”
Oxy students are optimistic about the impact this project could have on Los Angeles transportation culture.
“In reality, Los Angeles is a relatively bikeable city. A lot more needs to be done, but any improvement or re-tooling is positive for the bike community. Creation of more segregated bikepaths like Greenway does wonders for the image and perception of the bike community amid increased tensions between police and cyclists,” Urban and Environmental Policy Major and avid bike rider Nick Dierl (senior) said.
The West San Fernando Valley’s Greenway Project will facilitate these goals by implementing bike paths on popular local streets that will provide more opportunities for bike travel and leisure. Each street path will be constructed through individual phases that correspond to the bridge it crosses under.
According to the blog L.A. Creek Freak by urban environmental activist Joe Linton, the first segment of the project includes creating the pathway stretching from Vanalden Avenue to Corbin Avenue. The second pathway will begin at Corbin Avenue and go to Winnetka Avenue. Lastly, the third pathway will continue from Winnetka Avenue to Hartland Street. Bridge widening is planned to occur on Tampa Avenue, Winnetka Avenue, and Vanowen Street. Construction will proceed east to west (downstream to upstream).
Vallianatos also encourages students to participate in CicLAvia, an organization coming to Los Angeles that sponsors biking events throughout the United States and Latin America as an alternative to the congestion caused by car usage.
There are many opportunities for Oxy Students to help restore the city’s new bikeways and River. L.A. Keepers, part of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, a non-profit organization sponsored by the City of Los Angeles’ Community Development Department and the Board of Public Works’ Bureau of Sanitation, is open to students who would like to help restore and revitalize sections of the river.
Volunteering includes watershed education, native plant landscaping and weekly river restoration work.
For more information on volunteer opportunities, visit Conservation Work at www.lacorps.org
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