Paving the way for more roadwork

Crews will soon begin work on a $3.8-million revamp of San Fernando Road with new pavement and more aligned intersections for the busy industrial corridor.

The City Council is expected to sign off on the construction contract today, with work on the six-month project slated to begin in February.

The second phase of the San Fernando Road rehabilitation project — funded by state bond proceeds — will run from Tyburn Street to Pacific Avenue.

For a corridor that sees up to 35,000 daily vehicle trips — many of which are heavy work trucks or big rigs — the street needs it, said Public Works Director Steve Zurn.

“That pavement has taken a pounding,” he said.

Included in the scope of work, 78 trees will be planted along San Fernando, and seven intersections — Pacific, Central, Cerritos, Acacia, Garfield and Palmer avenues and Windsor Road — will be realigned to no longer be slightly out of sync for approaching vehicles.

Upgrades to sewer lines and water mains will also be folded into the project, which carries on a string of major infrastructure upgrades for the corridor. Officials recently completed a mulimillion-dollar safety upgrade of Glendale’s rail crossings and saw the completion of the Fairmont Avenue “flyover” bridge into a revamped area that includes major campuses for DreamWorks Animation and the Walt Disney Co.

The city is in line for another state allocation of about $3.15 million from Proposition 1B bond proceeds, money that would be used to help complete the San Fernando Road rehab project. But with Sacramento still grappling with a crushing state budget deficit, that money may become vulnerable.

All of the Proposition 1B funding, approved in 2006, was to be expended by June 30.

Even if the second allocation doesn’t come, the street project will need to continue, Zurn said.

“We still need to finish it out,” he said.