New bike lane stripping on that “undefined” stretch on 11th Street between Olympic and Colorado!
We were just here 2 days ago over the weekend and noticed one new line – which we thought was exciting. Traditionally cars have just utilized the bike lane as “extra space” to drive in as it only had the one solid line (the one pictured on the left). Â Adding the second line defined the lane but still lacked the bike lane markings,
Then on my commute home today a real marked bike lane.  As I was snapping pictures with my trusty phone 2 cyclist rode by.  In the picture below the guy in front turned to comment happily “these lines are new”.  Not sure I quite understand the double line on the right?  Best case for this stretch is to move the center line east so that the bike lane on the west side of the street can be widened out of the door zone since there is plenty of extra room on the east side of the street were  there is no car parking allowed.  Short of new lines on the whole street this is an big improvement.
Have you noticed any green X’s about town?
Also happening in and around Santa Monica is the installation of the new bike racks.
The City has been going around measuring and marking the spots on the sidewalk where new bike racks are going in with green X’s. At Swinger’s on Broadway at Lincoln, one of the places we have been asking for racks I counted 5 or 6 X’s including one in front of Swinger’s on Lincoln. We noticed only 1 at The Veggie Grill on Wilshire near 20th were there is a need and what seems to be plenty of room, after an email I was told it would be looked into.  Check out your favorite locations around town and see if you find any of these X’s. I believe some have also been noticed  in front of RFD on Santa Monica Blvd east of 5th.
Post here if you see these green X’s. List locations that do and locations that don’t that you think should.
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I took a long (VERY long) lunch today, and toured some of my favorite stores to check out the bike rack locations.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
First off, I really appreciate that city staff has gotten this project as far as paint on the ground, and that racks in the ground are imminent. Hooray for them! I have LOTS of suggestions to follow, so I really want to emphasize that I appreciate staff’s work on this project.
In general, bike racks should be located near cyclists’ destinations. Since cyclists travel pretty much everywhere, this is just a fancy way of saying that, eventually, we should have cycle racks pretty much everywhere. Of course, it makes total sense for the city to concentrate on the highest priority locations first. But, while I’ve listed specific locations below, this should not be taken as an indication that these places are in any way special; rather, they are an example of the *kinds* of places where we need the racks. I listed what I listed because they are the stores that I specifically visit on my bike.
To find further locations, one need only ride around the city and notice where bikes are locked to non-rack objects: these are places where there is clearly a demand for bike parking.
Also, in general, it is important that racks be located near the doors of the buildings that the cyclists are expected to use. I realize that I emphasized at the mid-May meeting that bike racks should be distributed, and I fear that I was unclear. What I meant was that racks should be located all around the city, as opposed to being clustered in parking garages. But it is perfectly fine, and entirely desirable, to have five racks clustered tightly near the entrance of a large business; there is no need to spread them out along the block just for the sake of spreading them out. The Whole Foods on Wilshire and 23rd is an example of what I mean: there are three planned racks spread out located near the corners, but the entrance to the building is right in the middle of the block, and other than the entrance, there is nothing else to do on that block.
As I have mentioned before, rack design is important. Inverted-U are the best, because they support the bike and are easy to lock to. Please do not install any more wave-style racks.
Finally, when I ask for multiple racks in certain locations below, it would be fine for the city to just install one rack and see if it gets used, before committing to multiple racks. Please plan the installation of the first rack to leave room for more racks in the future.
SPECIFIC LOCATIONS:
* Vons on Lincoln & Montana: 0 racks planned. We need 2 racks, which should be located near the driveway on Montana.
* Whole Foods on 5th & Wilshire: 5 racks planned. These should be clustered around the building entrances, not spread out as they
currently are.
* REI on 4th & SM: 0 racks planned. But there are 4 green dots with orange boxes around them and lines through them. What does that mean? Anyways, we need at least 2-3 racks here for the athletic, outdoorsy REI customers, as close as possible to the entrance to the store.
* Performance Bike on 5th & Broadway: 6 racks planned, spread out, some over by the parking lots. These should be repositioned closer to the store entrance. In particular, there is room for 4-5 racks in between the tree and the lightpost on 5th.
* Vons on Lincoln & Broadway: 0 racks planned. One would be nice, on Broadway near the driveway.
* Bay Cities on Lincoln near Broadway: 2 racks planned. Another one would be nice, this place is always packed, and there’s never any car parking, and ever since they took out the fence there are no ad-hoc places nearby to U-lock a bike.
* Bike Effect on Broadway near 9th: 0 racks planned. This whole row of small shops could use several racks spread amongst the storefronts, but the bike shop especially should have a couple racks right in front of it.
* Co-Opportunity on Broadway & 16th: The one wave-style rack is often full and encourages people to bang up my bike as they try to jam theirs in. We really need half a dozen U-racks, but I’d be satisfied with 1 or 2 for now. Please place on 16th just South of the driveway.
* Helens bike shop on Broadway and 25th: 2 racks planned. Please place closer to the front door.
* Whole Foods on Wilshire & 23rd: 3 racks planned. Please place closer to the front door; there is a giant open space in front of the door just begging to be used. If this is insufficient, perhaps the parking space in front of the door would be a good place for an on-street bike corral.
* Santa Monica Pizza Kitchen on Wilshire & 10th: 1 rack planned. Excellent placement. If it’s often full, the city should be prepared
to add more.
* SM Seafood, Wilshire & 10th: 0 racks planned. 1-2 would be nice,
clustered near the front door.
* Post Office, 5th & Arizona: 0 racks planned. Currently has a toast rack and a wave rack. Both are badly designed, and the wave rack is badly placed. Please add at least two U racks near the front entrance.
* Wells Fargo, 4th & Arizona: 4 racks planned. Please cluster them
near the entrance to the building.
* Parking structure, 4th btwn Arizona and SM: 3 racks planned. While I hate to discourage the installation of any racks, I do have to question why these racks are being included in this critical first installation of high-priority racks. There is little that I, as a cyclist, would find of interest in the parking structure. Perhaps these racks would better serve the community by being placed somewhere else?
* Swingers, Lincoln & Broadway: 4 racks planned. Good placement!
* Busy Bee hardware on SM & 15th: I didn’t check for paint here, but I’m including it because it definitely needs a rack as close as
possible to the front door.
It is good to see that block of 11th marked for bikes, but since there is no parking allowed on that side, why is there now a marked parking lane? It does not make sense to waste that much space. They should have put the bike lane along the gutter and then provided a huge buffer between it and the car travel lane. Or, give some of the extra space to the bike lane on the west side of the street.
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Veggie Grill and Swingers? Two of my favorite spots in town. Cool!