LOS ANGELES ( July 6, 2023) - Today, City Council President Paul Krekorian cut the ribbon on a completely renovated and updated intersection at San Fernando Road and Arvilla Avenue in Sun Valley. The Council President was joined by Los Angeles Department of Transportation General Manager Connie Llanos, StreetsLA Executive Director Keith Mozee, Metrolink CEO Darren Kettle, and Sergeant Jesse Ojeda of the LAPD Foothill Division.
Eighteen months ago, the intersection of San Fernando Road and Arvilla Avenue in Sun Valley was a sadly neglected crossroad, where a grade-level railroad track, a major artery for trucks and auto traffic, an interrupted bike lane, and a crooked side street met in a confusing and dangerous tangle.
Phase 3 of construction of the San Fernando Bike Path was slated to run through the intersection, a development that necessitated closing San Fernando Road to through traffic at Arvilla, but created an opportunity for many other long-delayed improvements.
Covid-related supply chain disruptions and the wettest rainy season in 18 years delayed construction, while trucks diverted from their usual course rumbled through residential side streets. But today the finished intersection was reopened, with new paving and striping, upgraded sidewalks, curb cuts, handrails, signal lights, and modernized safety gates.
The completed intersection is one of the last remaining pieces of the third and final phase of construction on the San Fernando Bike Path. “Connecting the San Fernando Valley with continuous protected routes for cyclists has been a goal of mine since I was elected to the Council,” said Council President Krekorian. “This path will provide the cyclists of the Valley with nine miles of outdoor recreation and exercise, as well as a healthy and climate-friendly transportation option for those who choose to take advantage of it.”
“StreetsLA is grateful for Council President Krekorian's leadership, and we were proud to partner on this project,” said Keith Mozee, Executive Director and General Manager of StreetsLA. “These improvements further our Bureau's goals of enhancing safety and mobility for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers.”
The completed bike path will provide more than nine continuous miles of protected bicycle lanes from Burbank to Sylmar. With the first two phases of the path complete, running from Sylmar through the City of San Fernando to Hansen Hills and Arleta on one end, and from Burbank to Sun Valley on the other, the Sun Valley segment from Cohasset Street to Branford Street is all that remains. LADOT expects to complete construction in August 2023.
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