Valley Boulevard Multi-Modal Transportation Improvement Plan

Los Angeles, California

Gruen Associates, as part of a multi-disciplinary team, is the urban designer, planner and landscape architect preparing multi-modal improvement plans for an approximately four-mile-long route along Cesar Chavez Avenue, Mission Road, and Valley Boulevard between Union Station and the 710 Freeway. The project is part of the 710 Improvement Project, which includes two other related improvement projects along Huntington Drive and Eastern Avenue, for which Gruen is also the urban design and landscape architecture sub-consultant. For the Valley Boulevard plan, the project team explored design alternatives providing enhanced bus facilities, improved connectivity for pedestrians/bicycles, greening along the corridor, and railroad safety improvements (a rail line runs adjacent to segments of both Mission Road and Valley Boulevard). Following the development and refinement of the alternatives, a preferred alternative was chosen, which led to an environmental assessment. The preferred alternative is the product of a robust outreach process, which included virtual and in-person meetings throughout all phases of the effort.