Progress on West Valley River Bridges and Bike Path

Steelhead trout medallion on the new Tampa Avenue Bridge over the L.A. River

I got a chance to bike in the West San Fernando Valley last week, and took a few photos of the Los Angeles River bike path project under construction. It’s a construction site right now, but a lot of the hardscape – new bridges and bridge undercrossings – appears more-or-less done.

The 2.2-mile bike path will extend from the Vanalden Avenue footbridge to Hartland Street (immediately upstream/west of Mason Avenue.) The first phase of the bike path (0.8 mile from Vanalden Avenue to Corbin Avenue) had been projected to be open around October 2012. I don’t know the timeline for subsequent phases, but it seems like the upstream construction is already underway, so the extension from Corbin to Winnetka shouldn’t take a whole lot longer. 

For plenty of background on this West Valley L.A. River Bikeway/Greenway, see L.A. Creek Freak’s earlier articles:

• Groundbreaking for phase 1 of  the bike path (March 2011)
• Funding, phasing, map (September 2010)
• Overview and public art (August 2010)
• Initial preview/overview (November 2008)

The area I checked out was at Winnetka Avenue, Corbin Avenue, Tampa Avenue and Vanalden Avenue. Here are photos starting at Winnetka moving downstream:

New L.A. River bridge pretty much complete at Winnetka Avenue. All of the bridges in this stretch are, in my opinion, crappy in comparison to the excellent historic bridges that the city is hell-bent on tearing down. In comparison to other, really really boring utilitarian bridges nearby, this one at least has a some modicum of historic and river themed stuff tacked on – nice lighting, a bit of artwork, decorative mini-arches in the railing. It could have been worse… but, frankly, I think it’s still lipstick on a pig.

Close-up of the artwork panel on the Winnetka Avenue Bridge. Visible at the base of the lighting in the photo above.

(One more editorial note here: this bridge was widened [something I really dislike, but won’t rant about right here right now] and the roadway was re-surfaced and re-striped… but the city neglected to the on-street bike lanes that city approved for Winnetka in the first 5-years of the 2010 bike plan… so, if the bike plan approval means anything [and, sadly, it doesn’t until cyclists and communities raise a stink] the city will have to spend additional money to erase the lanes they striped and go back and add bike lanes within the next three years. Sad. Typical. Shows the city engineers prioritize greater car capacity, even when building a bike path.)

View upstream from the Corbin Avenue Bridge. Solar bike path lighting installed. Asphalt area on the left is the entry ramp from Corbin Avenue. To the right is the bike path descending to go below the Corbin Avenue Bridge.

View looking downstream toward the Corbin Avenue Bridge (ugly gray bridge built a couple years ago.) The bridge’s bike path undercrossing is done (going diagonally upward from the bottom left corner), though it still has temporary wooden construction railing.

View downstream from Corbin Avenue Bridge. River bike path undercrossing is on the left.

The newly widened Tampa Avenue Bridge, with panels showing aspects of the natural history of the river. It’s another fairly standard bridge with a bit of decor tacked-on. There are river-themed medallions, historic-theme light standards, and again, some arches in the railing design… though, to me, it looks like the arches are in prison.

View downstream from the Tampa Avenue Bridge. There’s decorative paving below the light, but it was difficult to get a good look at while it was partially covered up by boards during construction. In the distance is the Vanalden Avenue footbridge.

View upstream from the Vanalden Avenue pedestrian bridge. In the middle right of the photo, the new Tampa Avenue Bridge and bike path undercrossing are visible.

Despite my unrelenting antipathy toward Los Angeles’ ugly-ass contemporary bridges, I am actually really happy thiat this project is nearing completion. The bike path will all look a lot better when the landscaping and other features are done, too. I’m looking forward to riding the new bike path! And working to get the path extended downstream and upstream.

Two more unrelated bikey notes that Creak Freaks might be interested in:

• The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition hosts their annual Los Angeles River Ride – coming up Sunday June 10th 2012! Various distances to suit beginner, intermediate and hard-ass cyclists. It’s a great way to see and enjoy the L.A. River.
• The Metro Orange Line Extension, which includes both a bike path and a busway, opens June 30th.  It extends 4 miles from Warner Center to Chattsworth. It’s perpendicular to the L.A. River, crossing it just below Canoga Avenue. There’s no river bike path there yet, but someday   the Orange Line bike path will connect seamlessly with the L.A. River bike path.