“Out with the rails and in...

“Out with the rails and in with the wheels” was the cry Friday

during removal of train tracks that signaled the groundbreaking on

the Chandler Bikeway Project.

The salvageable ties removed from the median that runs along

Chandler Boulevard will be reinstalled on the Fillmore Western

Railroad.

Plans for the bikeway have been in the works for 10 years,

requiring the approval of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which

co-owns the property.

“By seeing the railroad tracks come out, [residents] are going to

believe what we’ve been telling them -- that they’re actually going

to get a bikeway,” Burbank Principal Planner Joy Forbes said.

The path will run three miles in Burbank, from Clybourn Avenue to

Mariposa Street, and will connect to the downtown Metrolink station.

It will include a meandering bike path, a pedestrian walkway and

landscaping.

Construction is expected to be in high gear by July with a grand

opening planned for February 2004.