Bike Travel in the SFV — Chase
Chase Street is the current shoe-horned best route east-west between Devonshire and the Orange Line east of Canoga. It is a funny little side street that you can take continuously from DeSoto to White Oak. It has signalized crossing for every major street. It even has a pedestrian bridge over Wilbur Wash (near Roadblock Mini-Park) that really cuts down on through traffic.
The connectivity is also pretty good. On the White Oak side, as long as you are headed south, you can just pick up White Oak which will take you all the way to the Orange Line. In the middle, you can pick up Winnetka headed north or south, or Reseda headed north or south, although the connection s a little bit south of the Reseda Cycletrack.
If you take Shirley north from Chase, you can get to Costco in Northridge for some quaxing or hit up In-N-Out for a potty/water/burger break.
On the DeSoto side, you can press the crosswalk button, then haul south down one block to Community while the traffic is stuck at the light, hang a right and take Community to the Orange Line.
One note on the Community to Orange Line “shortcut”: I’m not sure how legal it is. You take a walkway to the Roscoe Orange Line station, but you actually have to cross through the station to get to the Orange Line bike path. Seems like a bad oversight on Metro’s part, but since there’s a very similar cut through the Warner Center Station that people do all the time, I’m not sure if it really is a problem. But without this connection, Chase would lose some of its joy. I’ve tried some alternatives and they all stink.
Bike Friendly Connections: Oso, Winnetka, Oakdale (south), Shirley, Vanalden, Reseda, Etiwanda (south), Lindley, Zelzah (south), White Oak (south)
Near Misses: Orange Line Bike Path, Variel
Notable Locales: Limerick Avenue Elementary School, Winnetka Recreation Center, Napa Street Elementary School, Vallarta Supermarket, Northridge Middle School
