A long awaited pedestrian and bike "garden bridge" across the Los Angeles River just cleared a major hurdle at Glendale City Hall, pushing the project out of basic environmental review and into the home stretch of design and permitting.
The span, officially called the Garden River Bridge, is planned to link the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk directly to Griffith Park. Designers say the curving, landscaped structure would finally stitch together a missing nonmotorized crossing with shaded seating, raised planting beds and dedicated bike ramps for people looking to avoid traffic and get straight into the park.
City Council members voted this month to adopt the findings of the project's environmental study. That move, as reported by Urbanize LA, lets the design team advance final plans, specifications and cost estimates after a public comment period and earlier community outreach this year. The vote does not put construction cash on the table, but it does clear a key regulatory obstacle so engineers and landscape architects can finish their drawings and paperwork.
Design and features
According to the project's initial study, the bridge would cross the river near Flower Street on the Glendale side and land on North Zoo Drive in Griffith Park, supported by two piers in the channel. The CEQA document describes a three span, curvilinear concrete structure with heavy planting at both ends and on the bridge itself, including raised beds, canopied seating areas, shade structures and viewing platforms. The plans identify landscape studio OLIN as the canopy designer.
The initial study estimates that on site construction would take about two and a half years. For drawings, maps and technical appendices, the project's CEQA filing is posted on CEQAnet.
Timeline and funding
While the initial study offers an early construction duration estimate, the city's project materials lay out a longer, step by step calendar that runs from environmental clearance through design milestones, permitting and competitive bidding before any work starts in the river channel.
The City of Glendale lists Proposition C, Measure R sub regional highway funds and Proposition 68 park bonds as the primary funding sources for the Garden River Bridge. An updated schedule, fiscal notes and staff contacts are posted on the City of Glendale project page.
Where it fits on the river
The Garden River Bridge is designed to plug into a small but slowly growing network of pedestrian and bike crossings along the Glendale Narrows, including new bridges in Atwater Village, Glassell Park and near the Glendale Hyperion complex. All of them are part of a broader effort to turn the LA River into a continuous greenway for walking and biking instead of a series of disconnected paths.
Urbanize LA notes that the Garden River Bridge serves as the final phase of Glendale’s Riverwalk project and is intended to improve safety and connectivity for people on foot and on bikes.
Next steps
With environmental findings now adopted, staff say the design team can move ahead to complete 100 percent construction documents and chase permits from state and federal regulators, including agencies that must sign off on any work within the river channel.
The city held a CEQA community meeting in February, and the project website and filings list the Mitigated Negative Declaration, mitigation monitoring program and engineering appendices for neighbors and other stakeholders who want to dig into the technical side. For plans, meeting recordings and outreach materials, see the official Garden River Bridge project website.
