Construction Begins On $25M Reseda Blvd. Upgrade

NORTHRIDGE, CA — Construction begins this week on a three-mile stretch of Reseda Boulevard will soon feature a bike lane, bus boarding islands, new trees, and much more. These recent upgrades come as part of a $24.7 million Reseda Boulevard Complete Streets Project to upgrade a street that has seen an unusually high number of fatal accidents.

The project will extend 2.9 miles from Victory Boulevard to Parthenia Street, in Reseda and Northridge. The stretch was selected because 110 people have been killed or seriously injured along that stretch between 2009 and 2019, according to a city presentation.

New features will include: repairs to damaged sidewalks; ADA compliant curb ramps; new left-turn signals; new bus-boarding islands; new bus stop lighting; upgraded bike lanes; new street trees; and bioswales to clean rainwater.

Construction begins this week. Only new curb ramps will be visible in 2021, but by 2022, new signals and bus islands are expected to ready. The street will be resurfaced and new trees and bus stop lighting will be added in 2023, and the whole project is expected to be complete by April 2023.

The project is part of Los Angeles's Complete Streets Program, a partnership between the Department of Public Works, the Transportation Department, Public Works Bureaus of Engineering, and the Bureau of Street Services, Bureau of Street Lighting, and Bureau of Sanitation.

L.A. City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield told StreetsBlog LA that the improvements will "make Reseda Blvd. safer and more accessible for all Angelenos, whether they are taking transit, driving, walking, or biking."

Notably, the project will ensure 10 miles of continuous bike lanes along the road, with 3.9 miles protected. The project will remove some on-street parking to make way for the continuous protected bike lanes in spots where Reseda Boulevard narrows. At the northern end, the project will connect to the city's first protected bike lanes, and at the southern end, it will connect to existing conventional bike lanes.

It will also connect the future L.A. River bike path and the future Aliso Creek Park path.