A little over a year after a bicyclist was struck from behind and severely injured on a stretch of La Tuna Canyon Road in Sun Valley, city leaders celebrated a series of new improvements aimed at making the area safer.
Keith Jackson — struck at high speed by a vehicle while riding his bicycle on La Tuna Canyon Road near Vinedale Elementary School on Dec. 9, 2017 — was among the guest speakers at a news conference highlighting the installed safety features.
“I’m really happy that it’s becoming a safer place, not just for the bikers, but for the hikers and pedestrians. I’m really happy that this is happening,” Jackson said.
The recent improvements on La Tuna Canyon Road include a continuous double-yellow lane separation throughout, high-visibility pavement markers, 1.2 lane miles of buffered bicycle lanes, and a shared shoulder for bicyclist and equestrians.
“Safe streets are for everyone, and we need to make sure that we foster an environment that enables everybody to harmoniously coexist, to not create environments where people are going to be unfortunately injured or killed,” Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez said.
Andrew Neiman, the commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division, said the stretch of La Tuna Canyon Road has been known as dangerous.
“This has been a very tough street to work for many years. It’s long, it’s wide, and anytime you have a street that is adjacent to a freeway, and it’s wide, there’s a tendency for drivers to go at a very high rate of speed,” Neiman said.
Neiman added that his officers in the field report that the road has seen less incidents and speeding tickets since the improvements were made recently.
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