A state-funded “temporary demonstration project” intending to make Orchard Village Road a bit safer for foot and bike traffic has drawn criticism for its design: Critics of the project say it’s a visual blight on what has long been considered one of the community’s most aesthetically pleasing parkways.
City officials said recently they plan to keep the project around for six months per the terms of the grant, so they can study whether the protective barriers for nonmotorized vehicles make the street any safer.
The city sought the money in a June 2022 grant application to the California Transportation Commission seeking money from the state for bike and pedestrian paths. The idea was to add a protected pedestrian path to a road that doesn’t have a sidewalk, increase access to local trails and make the nonmotorized traffic a bit more secure.
The city ended up with an 8-foot-wide path for one mile along Orchard Village Road from Lyons Avenue to Mill Valley Road, which is set off by a series of approximately 4-foot-tall white reflective panels.
The public feedback so far has been mixed. Complaints about the barriers’ appearance have prompted several opinion columns and letters to the editor of The Signal.
The president of the Santa Clarita Valley Bicycle Coalition, Nina Moskol, wrote a letter of endorsement for the project. Hart High School students and staff also engaged in an online survey with the support from nearby students.
However, now the situation puts safe-cycling advocates in a “difficult position.” Moskol never saw the design of the barriers ahead of time and sympathized with the “public outcry about the aesthetic unattractiveness.”
“What we hoped for was the best outcome for both a safe multimodal use lane, usable for both bicycles and pedestrians, including wheelchair users and a barrier treatment that was harmonious with the handsome tree-lined street and recently renovated median,” she wrote in an email Monday. “This project should not be seen as a choice between attractiveness or safety.”
In the five years prior to the city’s grant, Orchard Village Road reported seven collisions, which involved either pedestrians or bicyclists, including one that resulted in the death of a 9-year-old child.
“As a successful ‘quick-build,’ the project is an opportunity to introduce the concept of a protected shared use facility on a highly visible roadway,” according to the city’s grant application. “This project would provide connectivity to local transit, Class I trails and the city’s first bicycle boulevard currently in the design phase.”
It was seen as a complement to what the city has been trying to do in making that road more pedestrian-friendly to the more than 150 nonmotorized commuters who use the road daily, based on estimates gathered in 2020. The road was seen as particularly in need due to its lack of sidewalks in the city’s nonmotorized transportation plan.
The money was being given out as part of nearly $1 billion in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure funding announced by the state in March 2024 in response to the grant applications. The funding is expected to build 265 miles of new and improved bike lanes on state highways and the addition of more than 1,300 safety elements by mid-2028, according to a Caltrans news release.
The main goal is to increase safety: Citywide data showed that from 2016 to 2021, Santa Clarita had 12 fatal collisions, with 10 involving pedestrians, two with bicyclists. There were a total of 296 reported collisions during that time, with 109 resulting in complaints of pain.
In Santa Clarita, the listed goals for the project were public safety and health. Encouraging exercise for employees of the nearby medical complex at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and increasing trail access for nearby residents were cited as benefits, as was the area’s environmental justice for the area’s low-income residents.
“The health analysis points out that many residents in the project area live in a location which ranks in the 73rd percentile for exposure to diesel particulate matter, which can lead to respiratory diseases such as asthma,” according to city officials in their application. “Reducing single-occupant vehicle trips is a critical step toward improving the health and quality of life for these individuals.”
The grant gave the city the lion’s share for the work, allocating $750,000 of $763,000 to build the project, but since its installation, it’s only drawn criticism from the dais.
Mayor Bill Miranda and Councilwoman Marsha McLean have complained anecdotally that they have not seen residents using the lanes.
“It’s a big project in our opinion — I believe we would call it a big project on a main thoroughfare — and I see it as more of an obstruction than a benefit to anyone, personal opinion,” said Miranda, speaking during council comments at the Feb. 11 meeting.
McLean shared a similar sentiment to Miranda in terms of rarely seeing anyone on the path.
City Manager Ken Striplin reiterated several of the reasons why Orchard Village was chosen for the competitive grant during the Feb. 11 meeting.
“It was selected due to its lack of sidewalks and proximity to both schools as well as park sites along the path, as well as a connectivity to many other pathways in the area,” he said to Miranda, when the mayor asked about the program. “The project is a temporary demonstration project, using Caltrans active transportation funds, so the barricades are not intended to be the final design. But per the terms of the grant, staff must conduct traffic and pedestrian studies to determine the efficiency of the program, as well as get public feedback, which we anticipate to take a minimum of six months.”
City officials announced in a Nov. 24 news release the installation would take place “over the next few weeks,” but officials did not respond Monday to questions about the project’s specific timeline or when the six-month evaluation would take place.
