District: District 7
Contact: Colleen Park
Phone: (213) 269-0788
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Clean California Local Grant Transforms Glendale’s San Fernando Road with Crosswalk Murals and Multimodal Features
GLENDALE — Vibrant crosswalk murals highlight a colorful array of improvements made as part of the recently completed Clean California effort on San Fernando Road from Grandview Avenue to Elk Avenue.
Caltrans and the City of Glendale announced the completion of Phase 1 of the San Fernando Road Beautification and Multimodal Improvements Project, creating a comfortable and safe multimodal experience for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists along a 1.6-mile stretch of San Fernando Road.
The $13.2 million project was funded in part by a $4.9 million local grant through Governor Gavin Newsom’s Clean California initiative – a sweeping $1.2 billion, multiyear cleanup effort led by Caltrans to remove trash, create thousands of jobs and engage communities to transform public spaces. The project also received local and state funds.
“I want to the applaud the city of Glendale for the stunning improvements made to San Fernando Road,” said Caltrans District 7 Director Gloria Roberts. “From its creative crosswalk murals to a focus on multimodal enhancements, this project is a hallmark of the Clean California Local Grants Program, increasing the safety, accessibility and beauty of this vital public corridor to the benefit of the community and all road users.”
The street transformation includes improved sidewalks with curb bulb-outs, median islands, high-visibility crosswalks at intersections, added bike lanes, new bus shelters and water efficient and native landscaping.
“The City of Glendale is very grateful for Caltrans’ Clean California Local Grant Projects Cycle 1 funding for the recently completed San Fernando Road Beautification Project,” said Glendale Public Works Director Daniel Hernandez. “The $4,999,000 grant helped to implement environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions that improved the safety and travel experience for all users of the corridor.”
Featuring designs by local artists, the art-inspired crosswalks are a part of the Creative Crosswalks project, an initiative by the Glendale Library, Arts & Culture, Glendale Arts and Culture Commission and the Glendale Public Works Department to incorporate civic art into daily life. For her mural design “Blooming” at the intersection of San Fernando Road and Highland Ave, local artist Naira Tangamyan researched and highlighted native California wildflowers, the Phacelia and the Lewisia.
“I felt that common plants were a meaningful source of inspiration, especially as an immigrant deeply inspired by California's natural beauty,” Tangamyan said.
Local artist Tracey LaGuerre took inspiration for the design of her mural “The Magic Orange Tree” from her Haitian American identity and childhood experiences listening to her grandmother tell Haitian folktales at bedtime. Located at the intersection of San Fernando Road and Harvard Street, the mural depicts ripe orange fruit on a reddish hued pattern of orange blossoms.
“I felt like it tied in very well with the valley and its agricultural roots with the orange groves,” LaGuerre said. “It felt like a piece of my past mixed with a piece of my present and the future as well. I love that it's not just pretty but it has utilization too, making the town safer and helping the public.”
Improvements along the corridor include:
· 17,000 feet of new class II and class III bicycle lanes with green shared roadway pavement markings
· New ADA-compliant curb ramps and sidewalks
· 120 new shade trees and other shade structures
· 10,000 new drought-tolerant, native plants
· 7,000 square feet of art-inspired crosswalks
· 15 wayfinding signs & markers
· 3 beautified ADA Bus Stops and 16 new benches
· 500 linear feet of new design fencing
· Nearly 18,000 square feet of new landscaped medians
· New bioretention swales and drywells, landscaping features to capture, treat, and infiltrate stormwater runoff
San Fernando Road serves nearly 25,000 daily LA Metro and Glendale Beeline transit users and is a major connector in Southwest Glendale between industrial and commercial businesses and residential neighborhoods. The well-traveled corridor is also used as a bypass to Interstate 5 (I-5) and connects to the cities of Burbank and Los Angeles (Atwater Village).
The project was recently recognized in November 2024 by the American Public Works Association (APWA), Southern California Chapter, with a 2024 Project of the Year Award in the Traffic, Mobility and Beautification category.
Since July 2021, Caltrans and its local partners have picked up more than 2.8 million cubic yards of litter – enough to cover nine lanes of Interstate 5 with trash from the Mexican border to Oregon. Caltrans also hosted more than 600 free dump days in communities throughout the state – resulting in the collection of 14,000-plus mattresses and 52,000 tires. The initiative has enlisted more than 60,000 community clean-up volunteers and created thousands of jobs, including positions for individuals who were formerly incarcerated, on probation or experiencing housing insecurity.
Visit CleanCA.com to learn more about how Clean California is transforming communities and how you can get involved. For more information on current Clean California projects in District 7, visit dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-7/district-7-programs/d7-clean-california.
###
| CleanCA.com | #CleanCA | #BeWorkZoneAlert | X | Facebook | YouTube |