Glendale to conduct outreach on upcoming ‘road diet’

Glendale officials will host two public meetings to make sure the community knows everything there is to know about a planned “road diet” in Montrose that will test the viability of dedicated bike lanes on Honolulu Avenue.

The road diet will essentially cut two lanes out of the four-lane Honolulu Avenue between Ramsdell and Orangedale avenues and replace them with a designated bicycle lane in each direction. As Honolulu Avenue gets closer to the Montrose Shopping Park, the road is too narrow for a bike lane, so it will instead get street signs denoting that bicyclists and cars must share the road.

The test case was ordered by the City Council earlier this year in an effort to provide a baseline for how road diets work, and if others can be installed in more areas of the city — a more bike-friendly approach included in Glendale’s draft Bicycle Transportation Plan.

The public outreach will inform residents about the upcoming changes and what they can expect when they’re implemented in June. About 13,000 vehicles per day currently use the one-mile stretch slated for the bike lanes, which currently has a speed limit of 35 mph.

The lane reconfigurations are planned to last nine to 12 months.

The meetings are scheduled for March 28 April 26 at Sparr Heights Community Center, 1613 Glencoe Way. Both start at 7 p.m.

In their announcement, city officials encouraged cyclists, residents, property owners and any one else who has questions to attend.

-- Jason Wells, jason.wells@latimes.com

Twitter: @JasonBretWells