Eyes on the Street: Traffic Calming Rain Gardens Nearly Completed in Glendale

The city of Glendale is nearly done with construction for two new sidewalk rain gardens along La Crescenta Avenue. They are components of the city’s 1.5-mile-long La Crescenta Avenue Rehabilitation Project. The overall project includes reconfiguration of travel lanes to add a new two-way center turn lane and new bike lanes – part protected, part buffered.

For folks unfamiliar with these sorts of “watershed management” features: the curb design around these gardens sends rainwater onto the landscaped area. Water soaks in, providing multiple benefits: neighborhood greening, improved water quality (less polluted runoff to river and ocean), groundwater recharge, and even slightly reduced flood risk.

The two rain garden sites are one block apart:

• La Crescenta Avenue/Sierra Vista Avenue/Arlington Avenue
• La Crescenta Avenue/Las Palmas Avenue/Paloma Avenue – next to Fremont Elementary School

These are both somewhat complicated three-way intersections where the city had previously installed slip lanes and triangular pedestrian islands.

This project realigned those intersections, making them simpler (including eliminating slip lanes) and safer for pedestrians.

Project construction is ongoing and expected to be complete around March 2026. See city project page for additional information.

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