Part of $19.5-million street safety project.

Construction is scheduled to begin this month for a $19.5-million project which will bring new pedestrian and bicycle safety infrastructure to one of the San Fernando Valley’s key north-south thoroughfares.

The planned improvements, which are being implemented by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), encompass a 2.9-mile stretch of Reseda Boulevard between Victory Boulevard in the south and Parthenia Street in the north.  In addition to resurfacing the corridor, the project will also include:

• high-visibility crosswalks;
• 11 bus boarding islands at 9 intersections;
• protected bike lanes separated from automobile traffic by vertical bollards and concrete islands;
• new loading zones and curb ramps;
• new left turn arrows at 8 intersections;
• 13 bioswales;
• new shade trees;
• pedestrian lighting at bus stops; and
• a crosswalk with flashing beacons at Napa Street with a median pedestrian island.

The new infrastructure will feed into an existing one-mile stretch of protected bike lanes running from Parthenia to Plummer Street – just west of the Cal State Northridge campus.

Implementation of the Reseda Boulevard plan will reduce the number of on-street parking spaces along the corridor from 707 to 465.  The spaces slated for elimination are located near driveways – where parked cars impede visibility – or along narrow sections of the street.

Construction is anticipated to occur over approximately 28 months, with completion of all elements of the project expected in April 2023.

The project area, which connects the Reseda community with Northridge, is a busy corridor frequented by approximately 5,000 bus riders on an average weekday.  However, it has also been identified as a particularly dangerous stretch of road.  According to LADOT, 110 people were either killed or severely injured along the 2.9-mile section of Reseda between 2009 and 2019.

Original article written on Oct 8, 2020 by Steven Sharp https://urbanize.la/post/new-protected-bike-lanes-coming-reseda-boulevard