About a 1-mile stretch on Winnetka Avenue between Vanowen Street and Victory Boulevard connects several popular stops, including the L.A. River and the Metro Orange Line with many local neighborhoods. But the stretch doesn’t have bike lanes. And that means cyclists are vulnerable, officials say.

Now, the L.A. Transportation Department is considering an extension to the current bike path along Winnetka, where a gap has made for an unsafe journey for cyclists.

Nearly 20 residents gathered Friday at a community meeting hosted by the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization Inc. to learn about the plan. But, despite safety concerns for pedestrians and cyclists, residents weren’t all happy about the prospect of more bikes, or possibly even scooters on a heavily traveled street in the area.

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Currently, bike lanes on Winnetka Avenue end about a quarter of a mile short of the L.A. River bike path and a half mile short of the Orange Line and Pierce College. In addition, there are no pedestrian crossings on Winnetka Avenue for about a half-mile stretch between Vanowen Street and the Orange Line.

Transportation officials say they want to install a first- and last-mile connection to the Orange Line path and offer better mobility options for cyclists traveling to Pierce College.

The plan will make it safer, officials say, for cyclists to ride a bike along Winnetka Avenue and south of Vanowen Street, where existing bike lanes currently end.

They’re also looking at allowing all-day parking in front of homes along Winnetka Avenue, which would create a parking buffer for cyclists between the sidewalk and fast-moving traffic. The bike paths can be potentially expanded farther south to Calvert or Oxnard street.

Under an early concept, officials are also considering a controlled crossing point — a designated pedestrian crossing with signals — between Vanowen Street and the Orange Line and providing safer access to the L.A. River bike path.

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But at the recent meeting, some residents voiced skepticism about the project.

One resident said the bikeways will be used by riders of electric scooters heading to the Warner Center and Pierce College areas, causing traffic and clogging sidewalks.

Another resident said the existing traffic is already heavy, and that installing bike lanes would take away much-needed space on the road.

“Have any of you traveled these streets during rush hour?” he said. “I drove one way and turned around and it took me half an hour to drive two or three blocks.”

Martin Lipkin, a Woodland Hills resident, said there are not enough cyclists traveling along Winnetka Avenue to install new bike lanes.

“It seems that there is no bike traffic here,” he said. “There are a lot of problems here already.”

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But city officials said bike lanes and pedestrian improvements are necessary. From 2013 to 2018, in separate accidents, a pedestrian and cyclist were seriously injured on Winnetka Avenue. Last year, Ignacio Sanchez Navarro was killed in a hit-and-run crash after being struck by a car as he was cycling north on Winnetka Avenue from his work.

Afterward, the need for safety improvements along Winnetka became more apparent. Los Angeles Councilman Bob Blumenfield, whose district includes the area, asked the Department of Transportation to explore different options and add about a mile of bike lanes along Winnetka Avenue.

In August, city officials hosted a workshop where “attendees voiced unanimous support” of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure improvements in the area, according to Lameese Chang, L.A. Department of Transportation Planning associate.

The next open house and public hearing will be in November 2018. In the next few months, the transportation officials will work on conceptual design. If the project is approved, construction is slated for fall 2019.