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RE: Santa Monica Main Street Bike Lane extension into Venice (LA)
A task force was formed by the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) to review and make a recommendation about the proposal to extend the bike lanes on Main St. from the Santa Monica border south to the Windward Circle.  This proposal was presented to the VNC several months ago and they directed it to one of their committees.  Unfortunately, the designated committee has been too busy to hear the item so a task force was formed to review it.  The item will then go before the full VNC Board for their recommendation.
The Task Force held a public meeting Thursday, June 16, 6PM at the Westchester field office. Â LADOT and BAC representative Kent Strumpell made a presentation.
REPORT: Kent Strumpell, City of LA Bicycle Advisory Committee, CD 11 representative
Main Street Task Force recommends supporting bike lanes for Venice
A task force made up of appointees chosen by the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) and Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s office
met to review the proposal for adding bike lanes to Main Street.  The bike lanes would essentially mimic the existing lanes on Main Street in Santa Monica and continue them from the Santa Monica border south to the Windward Circle.  The lanes in the Venice area, however, would add an additional stripe next to car parking stalls to enhance their visibility and discourage parked cars from encroaching into the bike lane area.  To incorporate the bike lanes, the road would be re-striped with a full length central turn lane, one travel lane in each direction plus the bike lanes and on-street parking on both sides.  No parking would be lost.
The project had come before the VNC in January where the Board directed that their Planning and Land Use Committee review it and make a recommendation. Â Due to a busy schedule, that committee was unable to take up the matter, causing months of delay.
After discussing the proposal and hearing input from local cyclists, the Task Force members recommended supporting the modifications to Main Street as So a task force was formed to review it and make a recommendation.
proposed and requested some enhancements. Â Those included providing signs to alert motorists to watch for bikes before opening car doors into the bike lane and adding way-finding signage to assist cyclists in locating destinations and bike routes near to Main Street.
The Task Force’s recommendations will be forwarded to the VNC Board who will take up the matter at a future meeting. Â If they support the project, another outreach meeting could be held to assure that the concerns of merchants and locals are being considered.
We are excited at the prospect of a bike lane that continues south to the Venice Circle but feel strongly that the DOT and the Council Office hold at least one more widely publicized meeting to assure that due diligence is paid to the community process. Â We feel it crucial that every thing is done to assure that this project is a success as it could well impact prospects for all other roads diets that we want to see happen here in our city as well as in Los Angeles.
We will keep you updated on future meetings.
