Whittier Is Extending Its Popular Greenway Trail

The city of Whittier is currently building a new extension to its Greenway Trail, a popular place for cyclists and pedestrians. The 2.8-mile rail-with-trail extension is anticipated to open this summer.

Whittier opened its existing 4.6-mile Greenway Trail bike/walk path in 2009. That facility was built on an abandoned rail spur that crosses the city. The greenway features a walk/bike path in the center of a landscaped ~60-foot-wide right-of-way that mostly runs diagonally through residential neighborhoods.

The new extension will continue eastward, though in a somewhat tighter right-of-way running alongside an active (though infrequently used - just a couple times each week) rail line immediately north of busy Lambert Road. The new extension occupies a fifteen-foot-wide strip of land, so the opportunities for landscaping are not as extensive there.

The $8.1 million extension was funded via a combination of state, federal, and local funds.

The city got the extension construction underway in February 2021. Construction had been expected to take about a year, but hit some relatively minor snags, resulting in a $300,000 cost overrun. Whittier Senior Civil Engineer Michelle Chapman stated that the trail extension project is largely proceeding well, and that delays stemmed from complications in coordinating with the interconnected (also currently under-construction) city/county project to synchronize signals on Lambert Road, with both projects necessitating working closely with the Union Pacific Railroad.

Streetsblog visited the Greenway extension project last week. While work is underway on the entire right-of-way, the work is proceeding mostly west to east, so the western couple blocks of the trail are nearly complete, and indeed already in use by a few pedestrians and cyclists.

The west end of the new extension is at Mills Avenue and Lambert Road. This is the site of Oak Station, one of four existing greenway stations that feature interpretive signage, seating, art, landscaping, etc. Oak Station features historical information, sculptures, a drinking fountain, landscaping, and a small parking area for bikes and cars. Chapman related that Oak Station opened in 2019, in part to showcase the planned Greenway extension features for the surrounding neighborhoods.

The Greenway extension includes two new walk/bike bridges: at Leffingwell Creek and La Mirada Creek.

While much of the extended straightaway portions of the project are nearly done, many gaps remain, especially at cross streets. On the east end, just east of First Avenue, the rail and the trail diverge from Lambert Road. This portion of the facility is the least complete. When completed, the trail/path will extend to the city and county border, which is in line with Valley Home Avenue.

There are early discussions of continuing to extend the path eastward into the adjacent Orange County cities of La Habra and Brea. Both of those cities have stretches of rail in parks along the same extended right-of-way.