Even if you're one of our listeners from outside of the San Gabriel Valley, you doubtless know that this Sunday is the 626. The mammoth car-free party will feature 8 cities, two missions, one Sasquatch and over 20,000 participants. Read more about the 626 at the official website.

And who better to help us preview the event than Wes Reutimann, the special projects director for Active SGV? Wes talks to Kris Fortin about the plans for this Sunday and the history of San Gabriel Valley's world famous open streets party.

Because of our recording schedule, we decided to split our podcast in two so we could get this interview online as fast as possible. We'll be back tomorrow with a special edition of SGV Connect highlighting one of the special projects that we'll be able to experience at the 626.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Before we get in to this week's episode, let me remind you that this Thursday is Streetsblog L.A.'s annual awards dinner. We'll be honoring Active SGV, Asm. Laura Friedman and some others. To get tickets or for more information, click here.

Leading off the podcast, Kris speaks with Blair Miller with the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition to get an update on the proposed protected bike lane for Union Street in Pasadena. Unlike the road diet that was scrapped for Orange Grove earlier this year, there has not been nearly the level of opposition for this project. Conversely, Miller and Fortin report that more advocates for safe streets were galvanized by the NIMBY Bikelash last year.

Second, Damien talks with Androush Danielians, Executive Officer of Project Engineering at L.A. Metro about the I-210 Barrier Project. For those new to this discussion, ever since the opening of the Gold Line Foothill Extension, people have been crashing their cars into the train tracks where it runs parallel to the I-210. At the April Metro Board Meeting, the Board voted to move forward with a project to create barriers between the freeway and Metro property. For more coverage of this issue from Streetsblog, click here.

#SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”

Catch past episodes of SGV Connect and #DamienTalks on LibSyn,iTunes, Google Play, or Overcast.