Category Archives: Bike Infrastructure

Support Council Item 16E for Safer Streets: Email Council Today!

Click here to go see the full Council Agenda

Please join us, along with our Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance partners to support Santa Monica City Council Members Zwick, Torosis, and Mayor Davis’ Item 16E that proposes we prioritize timely and effective solutions to make our streets safe for everyone. Voice your support in directing the City to measures that prevent dangerous motor vehicle incursions into our current and future bike infrastructure. Please join us and send your support to Council in advance of the meeting Tuesday, September 12th with this “One click to Email Council.” We encourage you to personalize, add your own stories or comments – and please don’t forget to sign your name and add your zip code.

Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance is a collaboration of local and regional advocacy organizations and community members that together promote and support the implementation of our community’s shared goals of complete streets that are designed to be safe, equitable and welcoming to everyone.

Easy One click to Email Council
Feel free to personalize, add your own stories or comments – and please don’t forget to sign your name and add your zip code.

A Call to Roll Back Street Safety Improvements on 17th Street?

A request by council members Brock and de la Torre to “enhance vehicular movements while not compromising bicycle and pedestrian safety” on the new – not yet completed – 17th Street Protected Bikeway. ie. let cars go faster at intersections where the data shows conflicts leading to crashes and injuries happen. If that sounds strange to you we’d have to agree.

There is no need to “study” this, the documentation on how protected bike lanes and intersections improve safety is widely disseminated and accepted worldwide – this YouTube video on the topic was posted over 12 years ago. The “gold” standard implementations on 17th were years in the planning and follow national and international design standards for safety and were designed by experts in the field. Repeated studies consistently show that adding protected bike lanes increases the safety of all road users – people driving cars, walking, and biking. Research shows that adding protected bike lanes reduces all collisions and injuries by 30-50%. The simple fact is research and experience shows again and again and again the same thing: protected bike lanes are good for everyone. The 2018 CalBike report notes that – among other benefits – protected bike lanes “improve safety for bicyclists, car drivers, and pedestrians” and “Get more people to ride bikes by providing the safety, comfort, and separation most people want and need to consider bicycling.” The 17th Street Protected Bikeway configuration fulfills an international “gold” standard for safety referred to as a “Dutch crossing.” 

There is no argument that useful information is a good thing. However it is important to note – this important safety project – after years of planning and outreach – is not yet even complete having suffered many unavoidable delays during construction due to an exceptional rainy season that no doubt led to confusion. Until recently when the work was nearing completion there was legitimate confusion and concerns that arose in the community from both motorists and cyclists. We all know change is hard. It is a given that – although the changes are an improvement – there will be a certain amount of discomfort and confusion when implementing new and unfamiliar road design standards. It is also understandable that concerns are often generated during construction when new street safety projects are partially implemented. However, now that the project is near-finished it has clearly become evident – supported by the overwhelming feedback received – that the configuration fulfills the world class safety standards that were envisioned by the community. So, do we now switch back to choosing speed over safety to “enhance vehicular movements” at intersections? Is this just the beginning? Where will the vehicle prioritizing corrosive changes end?

These sorts of Council member requests are almost routinely passed. We have no doubt an Information Item on the 17th Street protected bikeway improvements will detail the project’s resounding successes and include Staff’s attentiveness throughout the project and into the final stages of completion. Just recently, as the project nears the finish line, City Mobility staff have made adjustments in response to community feedback and regular onsite inspections to accommodate disability parking, signage and potential conflicts with concrete lips. We ask the Council to remove the counterproductive second half of the 16-D request from any motion being considered. Council needs to choose to prioritize safety over speed modifications that “enhance vehicular movements.” Choosing safety and equity for all road users over “enhanc[ing] vehicular movements.”  We know vehicle speed is a key factor in traffic violence that results in serious injuries and traffic fatalities.  We urge Council to stop prioritizing vehicles over people and to affirm prior commitments to protect our most vulnerable road users, people walking and biking.  Prioritize people, kids to seniors, and our collective future for a livable climate.

One click to Email Council
– Please personalize and don’t forget to sign your name and add your zip code

More Press on Santa Monica Next and StreetsBlogLA

Why 17th Street?

17th Street connects local neighborhoods to transit facilities, bikeways, schools, employment opportunities, and entertainment. 17th Street was identified in the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE), Bicycle Action Plan (BAP), and Pedestrian Action Plan to include safety improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists. With the opening of the Metro Expo light rail station — by 2018 there had already been an 1160% increase in pedestrian traffic and an 82% increase in bicycle traffic.

Kidical Mass: Rainbow Ride for Pride is SATURDAY June 10th!

Rainbow Ride for PRIDE: Dress up in your best Rainbow gear!

Kidical Mass is a Community Bike Ride for Kids to Seniors!
Free: June 10th
RSVP HERE
Active Seniors Pilot RSVP HERE

Join Santa Monica Spoke and City of Santa Monica for the Kidical Mass Rainbow Ride.

Celebrating an inclusive and diverse community during #SaMoPride Month and our new green lanes on 17th Street on a special rainbow themed ride for all ages — kids to seniors! We will take a short family friendly ride on some old and brand new protected green lanes and on MANGo (Michigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway). We start and end from Memorial Park.

Schedule: Saturday, June 10th
9::00am – 12:00pm
Don’t miss the fun pre-ride activities! And a Surprise Guest!
– Check-in, Hot coffee, juice, bagels and morning munchies, helmet decorating!
– Rainbow Ride for Pride
– Post ride activities – Rainbow Pizza!!

* Children must be accompanied and are the responsibility of their parents. Bikes should be in good working condition. Please use good judgement – ride is on city streets – smaller children should be in a child seat, in a trailer or Tag-a-long……

Santa Monica Blvd Bike Lane Project: Your input is requested!

Caltrans is seeking community input for a proposed bike lane project on Santa Monica Blvd (SR-2) – in the West LA neighborhood of Los Angeles – between Ohio Ave and Westgate Ave. Various alternatives are currently being studied to determine the best multimodal improvement for communities along this corridor. Colloquially known as the ‘Ohio to Ohio’ project, the objective of this project is to close an existing bicycle route gap that is bisected by SR-2. The intended purpose is to create a continuous path for active commuters who utilize the existing facilities for work, school, or for recreational purposes. By connecting a bike route, users will have fewer conflict points with vehicles and will be able to travel in a safer and more accessible manner.

Caltrans has reached out to collect as much feedback as possible for the local community. See the fact sheet with project information. Included in the informational document are links to an online survey and a virtual meeting that will be held Wednesday, May 24th, from 7:00 – 8:30PM.

The online public survey will be available to the public until Wednesday, June 7th
La encuesta pública en línea estará disponible para el público hasta el miércoles 7 de Junio

Engaging with the community is an important part of the Caltrans planning process. With your help, we will can increase the outreach efforts and help support Caltrans efforts to better connect with the public.

If you would like more detailed information about this project, please visit the Caltrans website.

Project Fact Sheet | Hoja de datos del proyecto:
English: bit.ly/sm-bikelane-factsheet
Español: bit.ly/sm-bikelane-factsheet-spanish

Virtual Public Meeting | Reunión pública virtual:
Date: Wednesday, May 24th | Fecha: Miércoles 24 de Mayo
Time | Hora: 7:00pm-8:30pm
Link: bit.ly/SR2bikes

Protected Bike Lane Amendment Adopted by SM City Council

On Tuesday, October 13th, Santa Monica City Council unanimously adopted the Bike Action Plan Amendment adding protected bike lanes to the Current 2011 Bike Action Plan. We were humbled and grateful for the youth that spoke so passionately and articulately at the online meeting — despite the late hour — in support of expanding protected bike lanes and safety for our community, workers, students and visitors.

Broadway Protected Bike Lanes

We’d like to thank City Staff for their meticulous work preparing the Draft Plan and the Santa Monica City Council for their continued direction and support to expand healthy active transportation options in Santa Monica along with necessary infrastructure and safety improvements for people walking, biking, scooting or driving cars. Together – with commitments like this – we can and must continue to prioritize improving safety for all, particularly our most vulnerable road users.

You can click these links to:
View the Staff Report
Watch the meeting – scroll to item 8A under the video to jump to the item.
Visit Info page Bike Action Plan Update: Protected Bikeway Network – Project Goal
DRAFT Bike Action Plan Amendment



Also Check this out!
Ocean Avenue Project – Protected Bikeway and Expanding Outside Dining