City Council Passes Glendale Bicycle Safety Plan

On March 27th, the City Council passed the Glendale Bicycle Safety Plan. This affects our canyon in that as part of the street resurfacing project [see: Glenoaks Blvd. Rehabilitation Meeting Notes] the city will be painting bike lanes and sharrows markers in the canyon upon completion of resurfacing. Below is a summary of what this means for our canyon.

Here is what the plan proposes:

From Chevy Chase to Mt. Carmel

Current 46' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking

Proposed 46' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking 6' bike lanes 7' wide parking lanes 10' wide travel lanes

From Mt. Carmel to Scholl Dr.

Current 46' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking 9.5' center turn lane 8' parking lanes 10' 3" travel lanes

Proposed 46' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking Remove center turn lane 7' parking lanes 6' bike lanes 10' travel lanes

From Scholl Dr. to Scholl Canyon Park Entrance

Current 40' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking 4' center painted median 7' parking lanes 11' driving lanes

Proposed 40' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking Remove center painted median 7' parking lanes 13' travel lanes with sharrows (see below for an explanation of what a "sharrow" is)

From Scholl Canyon Park Entrance to Tennis Courts

Current 40' wide 2 lanes with parking only from 6am to 10:30pm 6' wide painted lines, no bike lane markings

Proposed 40' wide 2 lanes with parking only from 6am to 10:30pm Stencil and sign existing stripes to create bike lane

A "sharrow" is a shared bike lane. Signified by the symbol:

The stated purposes of the shared-lane markings used in California are to:

• Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in a shared lane with on-street parallel parking in order to reduce the chance of a bicyclist’s impacting the open door of a parked vehicle;
• Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in lanes that are too narrow for a motor vehicle and a bicycle to travel side by side within the same traffic lane;
• Alert motorists of the lateral location bicyclists are likely to occupy within the traveled way;
• Encourage safe passing of bicyclists by motorists; and
• Reduce the incidence of wrong-way bicycling.

You can download the full copy of the bicycle master plan here: http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/public_works/GlendaleBicycleMasterPlan.asp

Glenoaks Blvd. Rehabilitation Meeting Notes

Last Monday night, at the Glenoaks Elementary auditorium, a meeting was held to discuss the rehabilitation project to resurface Glenoaks Blvd. and many of the surrounding streets in our canyon. Below are the notes from that meeting.

Councilman Dave Weaver first spoke. He mentioned that on March 27th the city will have a study session on the Glendale Master Bike Plan. He urged all of us to attend this council meeting to voice our opinions and hear what is being discussed regarding bike paths in the canyon and throughout Glendale. Currently, the meeting is scheduled for   3pm but he's trying to get it changed to 6pm. If we get a better idea of when the meeting will be held, we will post the time on the website. The City Council will also be discussing the rehab project at their meeting on Tuesday 3/13. Bike lanes are being proposed but as of now are not part of the plan but the Council will be getting bids just in case.

The City Works Dept. gave a presentation outlining what types of resurfacing and repair will be done on what sections of the canyon. You can view the presentation here (please note this is a relatively large file).

The project is anticipated to being around June 4th and will take approximately 3 months to complete. All work in front of the school will be done during the summer break.

For much of the work where a slurry seal or complete resurfacing will take place, you will not be able to get access to your property from 7am to 5pm the day that they are laying the asphalt. That means if you do not leave your house on that day you will have to stay home until 5pm that evening, or if you leave (before 7am) you will not be allowed to return until after 5pm. This includes walking as well as driving. Of course if there is a life threatening emergency, all bets are off. This will be done in sections and several notices will go out to the residences affected for each section giving plenty of notice before the street is closed.

When they are doing Glenoaks Blvd. they will be doing half of the roadway at a time so there will always be a means to get in and out of the canyon.

Once the paving phase is complete, the roads will be striped and painted. The center divider that is no on Glenoaks Blvd. Will be removed and there will be a center line only. There is a proposal to continue a bike lane from Verdugo Blvd. Along Glenoaks Blvd up to Scholl Rd. (where the road is wider) and then have sharrow markers the rest of the way up the canyon. This is a proposal only and has not yet been voted on.

Three trees will have to be removed for this project. Two of them are already dead. Once complete, the city will be planting 55 new trees along the roadways within the canyon.

Glenoaks Canyon Rehabilitation Meeting Monday Night

Important meeting Monday night 6pm at the Glenoaks Elementary School Auditorium to discuss the rehabilitation of Glenoaks Blvd.

This meeting will discuss the plans and impact of the rehabilitation of Glenoaks Blvd. from Harvey up to the entrance of Scholl Canyon Park.

At the meeting there will also be discussion of bike lanes on Glenoaks Blvd. that have been proposed in the Glendale Bicycle Master Plan and will be voted on at an upcoming City Council meeting.

If you are at all interested in seeing how the resurfacing and potential restriping of Glenoaks Blvd. will affect us as residents of the canyon, you should definitely plan on attending.

Glenoaks Blvd. Rehabilitation Project Meeting

The city is planning on a rehabilitation project for East Glenoaks Blvd. and some adjacent streets. There will be a meeting on March 5th at 6pm in the Glenoaks Elementary School Auditorium. This meeting will provide an overview of the project and will allow residents to ask questions about how the project will impact all of us in the canyon. See below for more information.