"Out with the rails and in with the wheels" was the cry Friday
during removal of train tracks that signaled the groundbreaking on
the Chandler Bikeway Project.
The salvageable ties removed from the median that runs along
Chandler Boulevard will be reinstalled on the Fillmore Western
Railroad.
Plans for the bikeway have been in the works for 10 years,
requiring the approval of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which
co-owns the property.
"By seeing the railroad tracks come out, [residents] are going to
believe what we've been telling them -- that they're actually going
to get a bikeway," Burbank Principal Planner Joy Forbes said.
The path will run three miles in Burbank, from Clybourn Avenue to
Mariposa Street, and will connect to the downtown Metrolink station.
It will include a meandering bike path, a pedestrian walkway and
landscaping.
Construction is expected to be in high gear by July with a grand
opening planned for February 2004.
