GLENDALE : Feedback Sought on Bicycle Routes

Navigating the busy streets of Glendale on a bicycle isn’t always easy. But a local transportation group is working to make cyclists feel just as welcome on the road as motorists.

The Arroyo-Verdugo Transportation Coalition, a panel of city officials and business people from Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, La Canada Flintridge and South Pasadena, is working on a plan to create dozens of new bike paths. They also hope to make traveling the designated paths smoother for recreational and commuter cyclists alike.

To accomplish its goal, the group is looking for a few good riders.

“We need feedback from cyclists to tell us if we’re on the right track,” said Steve Adams, an assistant in the Glendale city manager’s office and a coordinator of the bikeway project.

At two meetings next month, the coalition will put their preliminary plans for cycling routes within the five cities on display. Maps showing existing routes, plus proposed routes, will be shown and cyclists will be asked to critique them.

“We’ll be showing routes that are already planned and may or may not have funding, and also ideas we’ve come up with for possible future routes,” Adams said. “The purpose is to get people who regularly participate in cycling to tell us whether these are logical routes, or if we’ve missed something.”

In addition to making it easier for cyclists to travel in and between the five-city area, the plan also calls for bike racks and lockers, water fountains and restrooms to be built along the paths.

Some of the bike paths might be designated portions of existing roads, while others could be trails running through parks and recreation areas, he said.

“Cycling is a meaningful transportation alternative, and this plan is important in meeting the needs of cyclists and creating connections between the communities,” said Katie Nack, Pasadena mayor and chairwoman of the transportation committee.

The bikeway plan is being prepared with a $32,000 grant from the Southern California Assn. of Governments.

Organizers said they have been posting flyers at local bicycle shops and sending them to cycling clubs in hopes of raising interest in the plan.

The two meetings on the bikeway plan are scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 24 at the Pasadena Aquatics Center, 360 N. Arroyo Blvd. and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28 at the Burbank Library, 110 N. Glenoaks Blvd.