Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013. When they built the 2 Freeway in 1960, they didn't bother to give us a sidewalk on freeway side of the street (on both Allesandro Street & Allesandro Way & Corralitas Drive). (Click on photos to enlarge.)
The "sidewalk" is some asphalt contained by a curb which is barely wide enough for one person to walk (above photo: Allesandro Street looking north from Oak Glen). It certainly isn't ADA accessible. If you look closely - there's a bus stop about 50' from the intersection of Oak Glen & Allesandro. The sidewalk is no wider there.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013. Telephone poles, palm fronds, dumping, weeds and soon we'll have 12-14' high sound wall to make this an even more appealing place for graffiti vandals and dumpers. I brought up all of these issues in response to the 2009 EIR. CalTrans failed to see the sidewalk as a public safety issue, or as an issue related to their project at all.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013. CalTrans needs to take responsibility for making their side of Allesandro Street a safer place to walk. Build a real sidewalk. Keep it clear of debris and weeds.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013. Allesandro Street at Whitmore: the bus stop has no ADA accessibility and no real sidewalk on which to wait for the bus. There are also no marked crosswalks at the intersection where cars and buses often blow through the stop sign. Once they remove the trees and build a giant wall, it's going to be a desolate place to wait for a bus.
CalTrans says this falls under Metro's purview, they don't do bus stops & sidewalks. However, despite being the lead agency on the project, Metro fails to see the need to make improvements to the bus stops and sidewalks as part of this project.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 13, 2013. Since the sound walls were never given a proper environmental review, no problem solving has been done whatsoever to make a more functional sidewalk on Allesandro Street.
Let's at least start with giving us a concrete sidewalk for the entire length of the sound walls between Oak Glen & Rosebud. Plant a dense mixture of trees and shrubs between the sound walls and the communities on both sides of the wall to mitigate physical & psychological effects of living next to a giant wall. Otherwise Allesandro Street will just be one big canvas for graffiti vandals, in addition to being a seriously unfriendly place to walk. The trees along the freeway make it tolerable to live and walk nearby.
Attend the CalTrans/Metro sponsored meeting TONIGHT:
State Route 2 Freeway Terminus Redesign Update
sponsored by Metro/CalTrans
Thursday, June 13, 2013
6 - 8 PM
2414 Mayberry St
Silver Lake , 90026
info: (213) 922-3010
