Politics & Government

Story of the Week: Caring for Colorado Boulevard

What our readers thought about it—and what we should add in our update.

We received a flurry of comments from readers on our story last week about fast traffic and neglecged medians on the Eagle Rock stretch of Colorado Boulevard between the 2 freeway and the 134 freeway that connects Glendale to Pasadena. The story, titled "," focused on why many Eagle Rockers want slower traffic on Colorado and what's being done to improve this historic corridor where a number of hip restaurants and boutique shops have opened in recent years. Below are some of the comments our readers sent in about the story, which inspired our correspondent Richard Garrova to do some further reporting about plans to improve Colorado Boulevard. Look out for Richard's second installment of "Caring for Colorado Boulevard" soon.

Comment :

Simply removing the superfluous third lane would do wonders to reduce speeds on this street which houses commercial, school, grocery store/regular necessities, housing and lies directly adjacent to housing. The street is almost unavoidable for most neighborhood travel. Adding a bike lane can make cycling for small trips, and school travel more attractive. Walking can be more attractive too as there is less threat and noise from cars confined to two lanes.

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Considering Eagle Rock Boulevard will have a completed bike lane in the near future (LA Bike Plan 5-year implementation), the addition of a bike lane on Colorado can create a connective, safe way to travel through much of town by bike. In fact, Colorado Blvd appears also in the LA Bike Plan 5-year implementation to receive a bike lane which is good news (but we still need to keep pushing for a bike lane!).

Keeping the third lane to move cars makes Colorado feel as though it is built for capacity rather than mobility or accessibility- we have the 134 if we want 'capacity' travel. I doubt anyone moved to Eagle Rock because they heard it has the widest section of Colorado. Most people prefer the small town/knit community feel of ER, and removing a traffic lane for the addition of a bike lane is consistent with Eagle Rock's character. Also considering 40% of trips are under two miles, access to a bike lane on Colorado can reduce trips made by car.

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Response :

These are very sensible points—thanks for bringing them up, Walk Eagle Rock. There is no other neighborhood that I know of within many miles of Eagle Rock that has such a relatively unrestricted three-lane corridor between two freeways. The only comparable three-lane bypass between two freeways would be the stretch of Brand Boulevard and Glendale Boulevard between the 134 freeway and the 5 freeway. The big difference between this corridor and the Eagle Rock stretch of Colorado is the zero-tolerance policy of Glendale Police, which is notorious—or famous—depending on your point of view for giving speeding tickets. Brand Boulevard also has more traffic lights than Colorado Boulevard has trees.

Comment :

If you will notice, there is a poured concrete turn lane in the median at Highland View Avenue, going both directions. That's because there used to be a traffic signal there. It was removed to help "move" the traffic before the freeway was built since Colorado Boulevard was the only way to get across town and traffic was increasing over time. Now that the freeway has been around for about 40 years, a traffic signal should be reinstalled at Highland View since there is a gap in the boulevard without traffic signals that goes on for many blocks, and as a result it encourages speeding. Notably, it was in that section of the boulevard where the fatal accident mentioned occurred two years ago. Installing a new signal there would be a good start.

Response
:

Thanks for the comments, Joanne Turner and Walk Eagle Rock. Eagle Rock does seem primed for a lane reduction on Colorado and would do well to accommodate the "walking / biking culture" that already exists. It's interesting how fewer lanes and something as simple as diagonal parking can have an impact on a neighborhood. Communities like Montrose and Sierra Madre seem to benefit from slower traffic and fewer lanes, granted, they do not have Colorado Boulevard to deal with.

Comment
:

TERA is listening, believe me. I was its president for a volatile six-year period between 1997 and 2003, when Eagle Rock was really struggling to turn around. Our main concern was land use and seeing to it that the letter and spirit of the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan was enforced in order to hold to a higher standard for future development and to attract a wider variety of businesses that people who lived in Eagle Rock wanted and needed. Land use is still TERA's central concern.

Being surrounded on three sides by two commercially very successful cities, Glendale and Pasadena, our goal was to attract more appealing and diverse business activity and thus encourage tax dollars to be spent in our Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood, and not in neighboring cities. We did it through disciplined research and presentation regarding local land-use issues, constant outreach, and continuous positive marketing of our neighborhood and its qualities through a variety of venues, and we succeeded.

Eagle Rock is now a destination, largely due to TERA's efforts. We pissed off a lot of people along the way, but we didn't care because we knew what we were doing was right. All that time and hard work definitely paid off.

Comment
:

I think the idea of adding a bike lane is a great one. I've tried riding my bicycle along Colorado a couple of times, and it's a harrowing experience. I used to live in Echo Park near Sunset Blvd and really enjoyed the bike lane in that area.

Response
:

Thanks, Jon. I agree. Nobody in their right minds could possibly oppose the idea of introducing a bike lane, but it's probably prudent that any plan to add a bike lane be thoroughly thought out. There seem to be plenty of poorly implemented bike lanes in L.A., including in the San Gabriel Valley, and I've met avid bikers who say they'd rather have no bike lane than one that's just not—what's the term for it—bike friendly. So, and as Tim Ryder appears to be alluding to below, the pros of having a bike lane on what is widely seen as a mini-highway must be weighed against the cons. The bottom line would be the safety of bikers of course, but we do live in L.A., where public transport is woeful and the automobile, for better or worse, is king. Appreciate any further thoughts you might have.

Comment
:

You might want to check in with the local Neighborhood council. They have been discussing this issue ad nauseum for quite some time now. Many ideas have been bounced around but nothing has come out of it. It appeared from my viewpoint (in the audience) that this is a very difficult issue to tackle for a variety of reasons. The accident in 2008 which took the lives of so many young people was tragic but was not caused by the three lanes on Colorado blvd (the police report said the driver was going 100mph). I conducted my own investigation into 'speeding' down Colorado and I clocked myself and the other drivers going between 40 and 50 miles an hour (45mph zone) but it seemed like everyone was in control of their vehicle and I didn't see any pedestrians in danger. I believe the police also conducted an investigation after the 2008 crash, you may want to look into that as a few speeding tickets were handed out for a month after as well. Now, I do walk my dog up and down Colorado three or four nights a week but remain vigilant when crossing at the red lights. Considering more people are killed in marked crosswalks every year than jaywalking, it's a good rule of thumb to still look both ways before crossing the street. I'm not sure about the bike lane idea but I liked the one idea about bringing back the old red car trolleys that ran up and own the boulevard before they were bought out by GM. Now that would really bring a small town atmosphere back to Eagle Rock!

Response
:

Very interesting, Tim—the red car trolley idea, which would certainly revive Eagle Rock's small town feel. I'm curious, though, as to how that would fit in with the times—what value the idea might have other than the obviously cultural and historical.

Comment
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The success of modern streetcar systems in Portland & elsewhere in moving people and promoting economic revitalization has a lot of places, including downtown Los Angeles, looking at streetcars as a way for people to get around. the key would be connecting to other traffic and making the route useful rather than just nostalgic. A link to pasadene and/or glendale or a loop on colorado, eagle rock, york and figueroa would be great!

Comment
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Maybe if they removed some lanes they could add free angled parking along one or both sides. Certainly more parking would help out the businesses along both sides. Plus it would act as a buffer between pedestrians and the traffic.

Comment
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The angled-parking issue on Colorado in Eagle Rock has been raised numerous times and officially addressed, and I believe it was found that the boulevard is not wide enough to accommodate it unless the median strips were narrowed or removed altogether.

Angled parking was attempted for a while along Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge with the same goal -- to help out businesses and provide more parking. It eventually was removed. It was deemed unsafe because of cars backing out of spaces on a road that had traffic rapid enough to cause accidents under those circumstances.

This is just what I heard. Please check with the transportation departments of both cities to confirm.

Comment
:

GREAT coverage of a pressing issue in Eagle Rock. Thanks, Eagle Rock Patch!

Please note that Magnolias are known to be long-lived trees, however, Southern California is not their ideal environment.

Magnolias have shallow roots and the maintenance plan of watering lightly every week further promotes shallow root structure. They looked good for 50 years, as long as the sprinklers were turned on weekly. But in the end shallow rooting made them vulnerable to changes in the watering schedule.

Watching a string of half-century old trees die off because they were not watered for a year or two should teach us something about tree selection.

Well chosen climate-adapted trees that are given periodic deep watering will develop a deep root system that allows them to tolerate fluctuations in water availability.

Comment
:

Mark is right about the success of modern streetcar systems. It should be noted, however, that 50% (or more) of the cost of those systems is paid by private property owners. Are the property owners in Eagle Rock willing and able to raise tens of millions of dollars for a streetcar system? I understand raising a few thousand for the new trash bins was pretty challenging.

Unless people are being linked to and from places outside Eagle Rock, and to major transit (like the Gold Line) it won't do much except move people who are already here from one end of the street to another. Not worth the $75M to $100M it would take to build it, much less the million or so per year to operate it. (These are based on Portland numbers.) The Downtown system as I understand it will be linking to major rail transit and numerous cultural and commercial destinations that are citywide draws and where circulation between them makes good sense.


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