Skip to main content

Glassell Park River Trails

Support Provided By
nela_glassellrivertrail.jpg

A new urban trail system connecting the local hills to the River will provide the Glassell Park neighborhood with a valuable amenity to enable residents and visitors to access their immediate natural resources. This network will increase access, pedestrian activity along existing streets, and a more viable local economy to businesses throughout the neighborhood. Community members will have a more enriched experience traversing between natural realms, while local businesses will benefit from their proximity to the adjacent trail network and take advantage of increased pedestrian traffic by supporting places for outdoor gatherings, rest stops and points of interest.

The multi-use public trail system will extend from the Los Angeles River funneling streams of pedestrian traffic via Division St. up to the hills of Mount Washington, with secondary paths weaving through the neighborhood of Glassell Park, followed by new pathways moving through Cypress Park connecting to existing trails in Elyria Canyon Park.

The two most challenging portions to make the connection from the hills to the River include: 1) crossing the two major North/South street corridors - Cypress Avenue and San Fernando Road and 2) implementing a vertical grade separated crossing over the rail corridor to access the Eastside embankment of the River. Currently, it is difficult to traverse this area as a pedestrian or cyclist.

The urban trail proposes to utilize a "pedway" and a "bikeway" to support a safe walkable and bikable route to the River by redesigning the public right-of-way (shoulder of road, utility easements, road bridges) to accommodate active transportation. The neighborhood trail network would feature a way-finding system to navigate to regional and local parks and feature selective locations for streetscape enhancements including tree and landscape plantings, distinctive paving, and interpretive signage to distinguish the varying local biomes.

These biomes exist as a series of topographic plant communities that include the existing Pine stands topping the hills, Oak woodlands in the transitional foothills, Sycamore groves in the canyons, and Poplar and Willow drifts that fill the riparian plains of the River. Ecotones, or transition between biomes, will be highlighted along the trails distinguishing species from the local California plant communities.

Along major arteries and other appropriate regions in this greenway system, stormwater filtration strategies (stormwater bump outs, stormwater planters, and rain gardens on larger swaths of land) will improve the overall stormwater quality as it makes its way to the River. In addition to providing a unique asset to the neighborhood, the trail network will provide an enhanced safe access to schools, encourage residents to walk or bike to school, work or connect with transit, and support the revitalization and heath of the greater Los Angeles River ecosystem.

Support Provided By
Read More
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
A Black woman with long, black brains wears a black Chicago Bulls windbreaker jacket with red and white stripes as she stands at the top of a short staircase in a housing complex and rests her left hand on the metal railing. She smiles slightly while looking directly at the camera.

Los Angeles County Is Testing AI's Ability To Prevent Homelessness

In order to prevent people from becoming homeless before it happens, Los Angeles County officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing. They would then step in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more so they don't become unhoused.