Road diet should undergo a trial

(Re: “Bike lanes losing favor,” June 21). The city of Glendale is crazy to implement these extensive changes without conducting a very simple test emulating the proposed road diet. To move forward without such a simple test is irresponsible.

All the city has to do is use some of the surplus concrete barriers from the flood zones and set up a simulated road diet for a week or two. Don’t need to paint the bike lanes; just squeeze the traffic down to the proposed two (plus center) lanes. If the barriers are too costly, why not just use orange traffic cones and see how many get mowed over in a day? With all the high-density residential driveways along the stretch between Rosemont and La Crescenta avenues, I predict very heavy congestion. Maybe that is some folks’ goal, but I don’t think it is at all funny.

I have nothing against most bike riders and give them the utmost courtesy. They do have a right to use the roadway safely. However, I also have encountered riders who seem to take pride in blocking the flow of traffic when they feel like it.

Why not play this simple emulation game and see what happens? Simple. Cheap. Easy to put in place and then remove if (when) necessary. It is even easy to set up a couple of Web cameras (publicly viewable, of course) so folks could see how the traffic progresses.

Jim Lumsden

La Crescenta