Bike Path Proposed Along River : Commuting: Route might attract as many as 2,000 who could avoid rush hour traffic on a link from Downtown L.A. to the Sepulveda Basin.

Under a plan being drafted by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, bicyclists would be able to pedal past traffic gridlock on a bike path winding about 17 miles alongside the Los Angeles River from the Sepulveda Basin to Downtown Los Angeles.

In hopes of decreasing traffic congestion and expanding recreational opportunities, the corps is drafting plans for a bicycle path along the access road that borders the river, for the first time connecting the bikeways of the San Fernando Valley to Downtown Los Angeles, officials said Friday.

The newly proposed bike path would hook up at Griffith Park with a seven-mile bikeway that the city plans to build from the park to Downtown.

“The Los Angeles River is an ideal route for a path,” said Nancy Wedeen, a North Hollywood cycling instructor and member of the League of American Bicyclists. “We think it’s a good investment to improve the health and sanity of the community.”

Although federal officials provided only $200,000 to draft the plan, a spokeswoman for Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) said he plans to talk with other federal and local officials about allocating additional money for construction.

“He has been very interested in doing things to rehabilitate the river,” said Beilenson’s spokeswoman, Melissa Kuckro. “We’d love to keep the bike path project going.”

A draft report and environmental study by the corps will be completed in January. It proposes a 10-mile link that would run south along the west side of the river and connect with a previously approved path from Griffith Park to Elysian Park, just blocks north of the city’s Civic Center.

The corps’ plan will provide only a general outline of the track to be followed by the bicycle path and offer some options for routing the path under or over street crossings, freeways and other obstacles, said Juan Villalobos, project manager for the corps. The plan will also provide a cost estimate for construction, he said.

But until funding for construction is found, the corps will not launch more detailed studies to begin construction of the path, he said.

“Until we hear otherwise, or we find other funds to do more, we are not authorized to do more,” Villalobos said.

Starting at Sepulveda Boulevard, near the San Diego and Ventura freeways, the path would run eastward about 10 miles, meeting up at Griffith Park with a seven-mile river-side path to Elysian Park near Downtown that has already been approved and funded by city and county officials.

City transportation officials said they are preparing to hire contractors to build the first three-mile phase at the northern end of the $5-million bike path from Griffith Park to Elysian Park.

If they do not run into any unforeseen hitches, construction of the 12-foot-wide Griffith Park-to-Downtown bikeway is expected to begin in June, to be completed by early 1996 and dubbed the “Los Angeles River Bike Path.”

Bicycle enthusiasts have predicted that the path will attract as many as 2,000 bicyclists commuting to work each day, with more joining in when the proposed extension is built.

A 1991 survey conducted by a commuter service company found that only two out of 500 Los Angeles County commuters rely primarily on a bicycle to get to work.

But bicyclists say the number of pedaling commuters is low because there are not enough paths and most dread competing with motorists on the city’s congested and often-dangerous streets.

“If there is money available we would like to see money used on bicycle transportation,” Wedeen said.

A city bicycle plan calls for doubling the current 300 miles of bike paths and lanes in the city over the next 10 to 15 years, said Michelle Mowery, the city’s bicycle coordinator. The path proposed by the corps had not previously been considered in the plan, he said.