Metro's Glendale Bus Lane Work Moves Block by Block. Here's the Order.

The official Glendale window for Metro's North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit construction runs from mid-October 2026 through February 2028. That works out to roughly sixteen months on Glenoaks Boulevard, Central Avenue and Broadway. At any single future station, though, Metro puts the work at about two to eight weeks, depending on the scope at that location.

The gap between those two numbers matters most if you drive Glenoaks to the 134 or walk to the Americana. Crews won't tie up three streets for a year and a half. They'll work through a planned sequence of short phases. Once you know the order, you know roughly when your block's turn comes and what the street will look like after the crews leave.

The planned order, street by street

Here is the sequence the City of Glendale published on September 22, 2026:

1. Work begins at Central Avenue and Lexington Drive.
2. Crews then move to Glenoaks Boulevard near Alameda Avenue and work eastbound, then shift to the westbound side.
3. The rest of Central Avenue follows, working southbound and finishing at Broadway.
4. Broadway comes last, with crews working east toward the SR-2 and the Eagle Rock boundary.

Metro's own Glendale construction notice uses the same sequence after the first step, with one difference. It says work is expected to begin at Broadway and Verdugo Road, not Central and Lexington. The City's notice is dated and Metro's is not. Both describe plans, and Metro's notice adds that construction is dynamic and schedules are subject to change. If you live or work near either corner, the Metro Glendale notice and the City's project page are the two to check.

Glendale isn't the only city on the corridor working on its own calendar. Metro's construction timeline lists Pasadena at April through November 2026 and Burbank at September 2026 through January 2028. Eagle Rock and North Hollywood are listed at November 2026 through April 2028. If your commute crosses city lines on Glenoaks into Burbank, you could run into two separate work zones on the same trip.

What a work zone actually looks like

Both notices describe the same toolkit, and it applies wherever crews are working at the time:

• Fewer travel lanes on Glenoaks, Central and Broadway, and on the cross streets that meet them
• Temporary turn restrictions at those intersections
• Sidewalk and crosswalk closures, with posted detours
• Some intersections closed to north-south traffic while east-west lanes stay open
• Temporary parking restrictions posted in the immediate work area
• Saw cutting and demolition of curbs, sidewalks, medians and roadway, with water trucks on site for dust and ongoing noise monitoring

The north-south closures are the item most likely to change a daily route. On Glenoaks, a cross street such as Kenilworth or Pacific could close to through traffic at the boulevard while Glenoaks itself keeps moving. The City's notice describes that pattern but doesn't list which intersections or when. Metro says it will issue additional notices with specific traffic impacts and detours before work starts at each location.

Scheduled hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closures may stay in place around the clock until a phase is finished, and night work may happen as needed between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Metro also warns that bus stops may be moved or affected. For Metro lines, the number is 323.GO.METRO. Foothill Transit riders can call 800.743.3463, and Pasadena Transit riders can call 626.744.4055.

Glendale saw a preview of this in August 2025, when crews spent about a month locating underground utilities. They narrowed lanes on Glenoaks between Alameda and Central and closed left-turn lanes one at a time at Kenilworth, Pacific, Sonora, Grandview, Highland, Allen and others. Consecutive intersections were never closed together. That rule from the 2025 notice was simple: if your usual left turn is blocked, take the next one.

What the streets keep when the crews leave

Because each phase is short, what the finished street looks like matters more than any single closure. Here is the design Metro presented in February 2026.

Metro's presentation lists seven Glendale stations and says the design keeps most parking along the Glendale segment. It names connections to Downtown Glendale's Americana and Galleria, the Civic Center, the Armenian American Museum and Glendale High School. The City places three of those stops on West Glenoaks between the Burbank border and Central, one at North Central Avenue and East Lexington Drive, and three on East Broadway between Brand Boulevard and the Los Angeles border. In Metro's transportation technical report, side-running lanes like those planned for Central and Broadway put buses in the right-most travel lane, with bike lanes, parking or both between the bus and the curb.

The Glenoaks bike lanes were the most debated part of that design. The Glendale News-Press reported that Metro told the City Council it was considering painted Class II lanes instead of the protected configuration discussed earlier, citing the effect on parking. Councilmember Dan Brotman asked Metro to look at whether some protected Class IV segments could stay. The City says it is still reviewing bike lane alignment options alongside the existing Class II lanes, with attention to traffic safety and emergency access. It also lists one detail that matters to anyone with curbside pickup on these streets: Metro is working on how residential trash bins will fit alongside the future bus lanes.

Once a section is done, crews repave and restripe Glenoaks, Central and Broadway.

The corridor businesses Metro is pointing people toward

Phased construction means each storefront along the route will have a work zone at its curb for a while. Metro's response is Eat Shop Play, a free marketing program for businesses within a quarter mile of the corridor. Enrolled businesses get monthly webinars and one-on-one coaching, and some are featured in Metro's own promotions.

Metro's Friday Email for October 16, 2026 featured four Glendale businesses on or near the route. Three of them sit right where the work is headed:

Glendale Market & Deli is the fourth business in the same Metro feature. Highlight Coffee also appears on Metro's main project page, which invites visitors to stop by. The full list lives on the Eat Shop Play site.

Metro also runs a separate Business Interruption Fund that pays grants to businesses hurt by construction. Its current page lists rail projects, the D Line Extension and the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail, and does not list this bus line. For businesses on Glenoaks, Central and Broadway, the help Metro has published so far is the Eat Shop Play marketing program.

When the buses arrive

The schedules don't quite match. Metro's April 2026 fact sheet forecasts construction finishing at the end of 2027 and service starting in early 2028. The City's notice runs Glendale's work through February 2028. Read together, early 2028 is the target for both the end of Glendale's street work and the start of service, and both are forecasts.

The whole corridor runs 19 miles with 22 stations, linking North Hollywood, Burbank, Glendale, Eagle Rock and Pasadena with zero-emission electric buses. Metro marked the project-wide start with a groundbreaking at Glendale City Hall, which Streetsblog LA covered on May 28, 2026. Street work in Glendale itself was set for mid-October. Metro posts block-level closures on its active work notices page and updates it as the schedule changes. Before you plan a weekday errand along Glenoaks, Central or Broadway over the next few months, that page will tell you more than any calendar.

If you own a home on or near Glenoaks, Central or Broadway and are wondering how a two-to-eight-week work zone could affect a renovation, a delivery schedule or the timing of a sale, I'm happy to go through the sequence with you street by street. My contractor background means we can talk through access, staging and timing in practical terms. Let's Connect with Ed Dorini.