Council approves safety improvements for cyclists

CITY HALL — The Burbank City Council became the latest agency to approve a slew of bikeway improvements that, once completed, should make it easier for bicyclists to safely navigate from one region to the next.

Glendale and L.A. County are headlong into their own bike path improvement projects and master plans, and eventually, the network of street markings and dedicated bicycle lanes are expected to mesh to create a more passable infrastructure for the no-car set, officials said.

In Burbank, the City Council Tuesday approved an updated Bicycle Master Plan that is expected to accommodate more than 12,000 residents who work in the city but cannot traverse certain areas because bike paths end abruptly. Cyclists have also said they are too afraid of road conditions to risk riding them, said Cory Wilkerson, assistant transportation planner.

The 14 top-tier projects planned for Burbank span the gamut, from a 15.7-mile citywide bicycle boulevard network to a bridge over the Los Angeles River to a San Fernando Path that picks up at the Los Angeles city limit and leads to the Downtown Burbank Metrolink Station.

While each project for which the city seeks grant funding must be referenced in the master plan, each would have to go before the council for individual approval.

“There are a lot people who will not ride bikes on the streets of your city or any other city unless they see bicycle infrastructure in place,” said Colin Bogart, of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, who is leading Glendale’s effort to overhaul its bikeway infrastructure. “By putting this in place, you are creating an option that people will use and that will help address many of the concerns we have these days: congestion, pollution and rising fuel costs.”

Bogart, who identified a series of proposed routes linking the two cities, said the pathways were an important step toward compelling commuters to turn away from their cars.

“If there’s anything a bike path doesn’t do, it doesn’t stop at the city boundary lines,” said Emily Gabel-Luddy, a member of the Burbank Planning Board and Sustainable Burbank Task Force. “The ability to link up Glendale and partner with them in terms of extending this as a means of getting around is a really good opportunity.”

Los Angeles County public works officials last month also announced plans to create a bike lane along the wide and busy Foothill Boulevard corridor, with the hope that it could be integrated through Glendale’s boundaries.

But concerns over some of the costs associated with installing the bikeway improvements have cropped up. In Burbank, Councilman David Gordon pounced on the $9-million price tag for a ¼-mile bridge that would span the Golden State (5) Freeway and connect the Downtown Burbank Metrolink Station with Palm Avenue and First Street.

“That’s right up there with the Alaskan ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ as far as I am concerned,” he said.