SGV Connect 90 – Changes to Garvey Ave in Monterey Park

This week’s SGV Connect podcast focuses on the Garvey Avenue road project in Monterey Park that Jennifer Tang editorialized against at Streetsblog L.A. last week. Tang and fellow advocate Edwin Sun give an update on the project and discuss some of the challenges advocating for a better project on Garvey.

As Tang noted in a different piece for Streetsblog last year, Monterey Park is planning to increase car capacity on Garvey Avenue using funds that were allocated by Metro. These funds were originally intended for expansion of the North 710 Freeway and were to be used to “increase mobility” and “reduce congestion.” Like many cities along the corridor, Monterey Park was worried that if it moved forward with a more progressive plan, Metro would withhold funding.

There is some good news. At a February 16 meeting, the City Council voted to upgrade proposed bike lanes for Garvey Avenue to protected bike lanes (called a “Class 4” bikeway.) The Council put aside the proporal to eliminate on-street parking in order to increase rush hour car capacity. The Council approved a plan to build multi-story parking garages (which are part of the Metro-funded project to increase car capacity on Garvey).

In the podcast, we discuss an upcoming motion by Supervisor Hilda Solis to ensure that cities such as Monterey Park can use their 710 funds for multi-modal projects. For more on that motion and its potential impact, check out this article on Streetsblog.

SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”