West Los Angeles : New Bikeway Study Funded

A four-lane, elevated bike path that would enable cyclists to pedal from UCLA to West Los Angeles and parts of Brentwood is one step closer to becoming a reality.

Last week, the County Board of Supervisors gave the go-ahead for a downtown planning firm to conduct what bike path proponents hope will be the last environmental impact report needed on the 17-foot high, 16-foot wide veloway. If all goes well, they say, the project could be under way by spring, 1994. The estimated cost is $8 million to $10 million

“We believe we have gotten over the worst of it,” said Ryan Snyder, a member of the Citizens for the West Los Angeles Veloway. “It’s been a long, frustrating haul.”

The veloway was first proposed in 1976 by a UCLA professor who thought it would be a selling point in attracting top-notch faculty members to the university. Since then, the proposed path has undergone a planning study and an earlier environmental impact report, and overcome objections from UCLA and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, whose property the veloway will cross. The latest environmental study, costing $74,950 and funded by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, will assess new route changes.

As proposed, one end of the bike path would begin at a rise on Veteran and Weyburn avenues, head south along Veteran, cross Wilshire Boulevard and then cut across the border between the federal office building and Westwood Park. The path would cross Sepulveda Boulevard and the San Diego Freeway before branching off south to Sawtelle Boulevard and north to San Vicente Boulevard.