Council considers Caltrans efforts to calm city street traffic during massive 210 Freeway rehab
Despite repeated complaints about construction on the Foothill (210) Freeway and the added traffic it’s heaped onto La Cañada’s surface streets, recent efforts by Caltrans to reroute drivers and reduce gridlock seem to be working, City Council members agreed Tuesday.
The La Cañada Flintridge City Council heard a progress report Tuesday on traffic mitigation measures put in place by the agency following a Feb. 7 council meeting at which city officials and residents shared their frustration with the three-year, $148.5-million pavement rehabilitation project and its impact on Foothill and Verdugo boulevard traffic.
Caltrans representatives promised to place portable changeable message signs on the northbound Glendale (2) Freeway warning motorists to avoid Foothill and Verdugo and advising them to use the Pasadena (134) Freeway to access the Golden State (I-5) Freeway, instead of the 210.
Transportation officials also worked with city staff to lengthen green light signals for westbound traffic on Foothill and enforce a 55 mph speed limit in construction zones.
“Within two weeks all your recommendations were being installed and done,” city traffic engineer Farhad Iranitalab told the council. “I’ve worked with Caltrans for 35 years, and this is the first time I’ve seen that they have done things that fast.”
Caltrans public information officer Karina Vargas delivered an update on the construction project and informed council members that the westbound 210 Ocean View Boulevard on-ramp and the La Crescenta Avenue off-ramp were scheduled to reopen next Wednesday, weather permitting.
On the eastbound 210, the Berkshire Avenue on-ramp and the Arroyo Boulevard off-ramp are scheduled to reopen May 20. Timing there is critical, as several major events—including a U2 concert at the Rose Bowl, the annual “Ticket to Explore JPL,” the 2017 Amgen Tour of California and Descanso Gardens’ Rose Festival — are taking place concurrently that weekend.
Vargas said Caltrans has been working with the city of Pasadena to ensure construction doesn’t further impede traffic in and around the events. Council members thanked Vargas for engaging with community groups and collecting, and acting on, feedback.
“I think Caltrans did take some action rather quickly, and we’re appreciative of that,” Mayor Mike Davitt said at the meeting. “Traffic on Foothill is better.”
For real-time traffic information, residents are encouraged to visit the website dot.ca.gov/d7/index.php.
Mr. Portantino goes to Villanueva de La Cañada
Temporarily changing civic hats, state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) will travel to Villanueva de La Cañada, Spain, on Thursday to represent La Cañada in a signing ceremony marking the partnership between the two municipalities as sister cities.
The move was sanctioned in a special City Council meeting convened Tuesday before the regular meeting.
Portantino will join representatives from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the La Cañada Flintridge Sister Cities Assn. as they join with Spanish dignitaries to mark the occasion during a Saturday event.
The former mayor and councilman was asked to attend in place of current Mayor Mike Davitt, who will be sworn in as the next president of the California Contract Cities Assn. during an annual municipal seminar in Indian Wells that same weekend.
The senator, who’d planned to attend that seminar in support of Davitt, said he was honored to be asked to represent his home town at the international ceremony.
“When the mayor asked me to help out the city, I said yes,” Portantino said Wednesday. “I’m happy and honored to do it.”
A star-spangled tribute to vets
Also on Tuesday, members of the Kiwanis Club of La Cañada-La Crescenta A.M. presented City Council members with a special flag and flagpole to raise awareness of their “Fly a Flag for Veterans” project.
The project allows people — for a $100 donation to the Kiwanis AM Foundation — to have an 8-foot lighted flag and flagpole displayed at their home or business throughout four national holidays — Memorial Day weekend, the Fourth of July, Labor Day weekend and Veteran’s Day.
For more information, email Bob Burlison at rcboys@pacbell.net.
Median mediation
During a discussion on the status of city projects at Tuesday’s meeting, Councilman Dave Spence asked Public Works Director Edward Hitti about the fate of the city’s medians now that watering restrictions have eased statewide.
Hitti said the city hasn’t watered the medians since December, due to ample rain levels, but said watering would need to resume soon. Despite healthy water levels, state rules prohibit municipalities from using drinking water for outdoor irrigation of grass.
The city will likely continue to purchase recycled water from Glendale, Hitti said, but is in the process of examining whether drought-tolerant or native replanting of the medians would qualify for potable water irrigation.
Twitter: @SaraCardine
