Conservation, Recreation, Education And Transportation Expo Greenway

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CREATE EXPO GREENWAY
for CONSERVATION, RECREATION, EDUCATION AND TRANSPORTATION: Expo Greenway

Play Space

Parkland is possible for most of this area, especially where the tracks will take up only 15% of the width (30 feet of 200). Palms Park abuts the right of way. A walkway from the National Boulevard/Overland Avenue intersection provides park access to Palms, Westdale, and Westside Village, while a pedestrian bridge connects Palms Park to the Country Club Highlands section of Cheviot Hills. The ROW has sufficient space for bike, jogging and pedestrian paths in most of this area. Paths for bicycles and pedestrians could connect Palms Park to the Right of Way. Ample space would remain for picnic tables, walking paths, or benches for watching nature. A waterway might encourage more urban plants and wildlife, making the experience even more welcoming.

Soothing Space

“The aesthetic and amenity value of water is quite high. At the local level, a creek can be a valuable attraction, even a focal point, in a public park. At a regional level, restored creeks can define a network of urban greenways and paths. Establishing such networks creates functional and habitat values as well. But it’s important to not underestimate the intangible benefits, which often increase the more urban the site. People familiar with the Strawberry Creek project note that its local impact is out of proportion to its small size – the opportunity to hear the soothing sound of running water is a huge draw for people in the highly built-up environs.” (Pinkham, “Daylighting, New Life for Buried Streams,” p. 7 [PDF].)

Grade Separation for a Contiguous Space

Much of the ROW near Cheviot Hills is in a lovely, natural valley. Near Cheviot Drive, where the ROW rises to street level and above, it can be lowered to prepare to pass under Overland Avenue. (The rise near Bradbury, Rountree and Putney was needed to keep pond water off the tracks. Storm drains, completed with assistance and financing of the Works Projects Administration in 1942, eliminated the need.)

Lowering the tracks from this point westward, under Overland Avenue, could widen and extend the parkway and could connect Palms Park with the broad ROW to the west in Westwood Gardens, where we understand that the land abutting the ROW is City-owned. Further west, where both north and south roadways of Exposition Boulevard have been built (with two-way traffic and parking), the City might consider making those streets one-way to further widen available parkland. This park would serve several communities which would be best connected by underpasses, not by overpasses.

The Expo Construction Authority staff has dismissed the idea of an underpass as too expensive. Its reasoning: “Full diversion of Overland storm drain to a drainage swale is not practical as flows can be as high as 1,272 mgd [million gallons per day]. Compare to Hyperion treatment plant capacity of 420 mgd.” Expo Construction Authority compares stormwater volumes to sewage treatment volumes at the Hyperion Treatment Plant. Expo should compare this project to the successful stormwater facility a few miles away: Westside Water Quality Improvement Project, which can handle flows over 21 mgd. The remaining stormwater is returned to the Sawtelle Channel.

To avoid flooding, inverted siphons or other designs can move excess stormwater through the existing stormdrains, which would continue to carry water to Ballona Creek.

Funding
Available park funding includes Quimby funds. CLICK HERE for a recent Quimby Funds report.