First published in the May 27 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
More than $1 million in infrastructure improvements will be coming to South Pasadena, including the widening of Orange Grove Avenue, a project expected to cost $500,000, the highest-ticketed item on a list of improvements.
After the City Council last week agreed on four project ideas presented by city staff, it chose a fifth project to widen Orange Grove Avenue that had been submitted to the Arroyo Verdugo Communities Joint-Power Authority (AVCJPA).
The council chose to widen Orange Grove over creating a bicycle lane based on research completed by the city’s public works department. A traffic evaluation that included data from 2010 to present showed there were 53 southbound collisions from Columbia Street to the 110 Freeway ramps.
The collisions, according to staff, could be attributed to the sudden and reverse curve merge near Oliver Street, a traffic change that does not meet federal guidelines. Although the data is not conclusive, 50 accidents were likely attributed to lane reduction and 41 cars were run off the road or hit a fixed object, such as a street lamp.
“Forty-one cars going off the road. That sounds like a lot of cars losing control and posing extreme safety risk to pedestrians — to anything — that’s on the side of the road,” Councilman Jon Primuth said.
The Orange Grove widening, along with four other project ideas, will be funded with $1.7 million in Measure M funds, the result of a half-cent sales tax to provide funding for transportation improvements in Los Angeles County.
The council voted 3-1 to approve the list of five projects. Councilwoman Evelyn Zneimer, who preferred a bike lane on Orange Grove, was the only council member not in favor, and Councilwoman Diana Mahmud was absent for the vote.
The other four project ideas, in order of priority, were improvements to Grevelia Street and Fair Oaks Avenue, followed by adding pedestrian crossing devices to places to be determined across the city, according to Ted Gerber, the city’s public works director.
Adding a traffic signal to Garfield Avenue and Monterey Road as well as adding bicycle lane improvements to Garfield Avenue were listed as the third priority, while Columbia Street striping and signals was the fourth. Gerber added.
The next Measure M programming cycle begins in roughly one year. At that time, bicycle lane implementation will be further considered as a project idea.
“There is a commitment from this council and the community to push those bicycle projects forward,” said Mayor Michael Cacciotti, himself an active cyclist. “They’re talking about this next cycle and that’s soon, because we’re so far behind.”
On the night of the council’s meeting, South Pasadena was the only outstanding city to submit ideas to the AVCJPA.
“Because of the amount of research, due diligence, outreach that we’ve done at so many different levels, it’s really put us at a place where we will be the final city to submit our request,” City Manager Arminé Chaparyan said.
Now that city staff has received final approval of project ideas from the council, it can move forward to allocate funds for feasibility studies and cost estimates. Projects are expected to be approved by AVCJPA in November.
