“This is a unique project for Glendale in that we are trying to combine a lot . . . This is complete streets on steroids,” he said to more than a dozen residents who attended a community information meeting about the project.
Federal stimulus money already being used for other street improvements on the same road stretch will be used to help fund the corridor project, Carter said.
“Our idea was to try to connect city facilities together,” he said. “The idea, again, is to get people out and active more.”
The city also plans to install signs that would tell walkers or cyclists how many more miles or blocks remain until they reach a certain destination, Carter said. Other signs would be educational, highlighting various points of interest along the corridor.
Some intersections, such as Central and Glendale avenues, might be redesigned to include curb extensions for pedestrians, like those along Brand Boulevard, he said.
“You could see cars better and they could see you better,” he said.
Several streets, including Central and Pacific avenues, Verdugo Road and Maple Street could get bicycle push buttons, which allow cyclists who are waiting at red lights to reach over and push a button to activate the traffic light, Carter said.
A series of roundabouts would also be installed at various intersections between Chevy Chase Drive to Verdugo Road to slow traffic, he said.
Zebra-striped crosswalks for pedestrians would be painted on streets that don’t have stop signs or traffic signals.
San Fernando Road and Riverdale Drive, and possibly Pacific and Central avenues, would also get resurfaced.
Street makings indicating a bicycle lane would be painted onto Glendale, Rock Glen and Lincoln avenues, he said.
The street improvements, Carter said, will hopefully enhance safety and create a more local atmosphere.
“It feels a little more local, so you tend to want to go more slow,” he said.
The listed improvements can be changed and more can be added, Carter said, as he asked the audience for suggestions.
Resident Bill McGough was concerned that additional bicycle lanes would cramp up what he said was an already overcrowded and dense Maple Street.
Ann Jensen said she desperately wanted to see improvements made to the sidewalks for better walking and mobility for wheelchairs.
Jensen uses a wheelchair to get around the city, but lately she said she has found it challenging and dangerous traversing the city’s sidewalks.
Her wheelchair was hit by a motorist while as she moved along a crosswalk, and the chair has never been the same, she said, pointing to the crooked left tire.
“I just want to see these streets safer,” Jensen said.
