Status: Poor; Trend: Stable
If you are wondering how we are doing in the bicycle friendly community, here is an update: It dates from August 2009, and it resides here

Transportation Indicators: Bike Lanes

Proportion of Arterial Streets with Bike Lanes – 2007

INDICATOR
Percentage of arterial streets which have bike lanes;
Total miles of bike paths, lanes and routes.

DESCRIPTION
This indicator tracks the percentage of arterial streets which have designated bike lanes and number of miles of bike paths in the city. The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) conducted a study which found that separated bike paths like the South Bay Bicycle Path that runs along the beach in Santa Monica are generally perceived by the public to be “the safest bikeway facility,” but concluded that despite that perception, separate bike paths do not promote commuter cycling.

The FHA study found that the public consider bike paths useful in facilitating RECREATIONAL, not COMMUTER biking. Evidently bike lanes within commuter arteries and not separate bike paths can potentially attract commute users. For this reason, the city has identified a target of 35% of arterial streets to have bike lanes AND for there to be an increase in the number of bike paths. To illuminate this discussion, please see the definition of Bike lanes, paths and routes in the section below.

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY
There are 130 miles of arterial streets in Santa Monica. Bike lanes are designated on 13 total miles of roadway. Of these, 3.78 miles of designated bike lanes are on arterial streets. That means less than 3% of Santa Monica’s arterial streets have bike lanes, a figure which falls short of the city’s 35% target for 2010. In addition to designated bike lanes, there is one bike path that is 3.11 miles long and 20 bike routes covering 18.78 miles.

STATUS
Poor

TREND
Stable

Just around the corner from the intersection of Wilshire and Lincoln is St Monica, a Catholic school and community which has found a few million dollars to build a few hundred underground parking spaces on its site. You know the spiel: Car parking produces car traffic, car traffic produces unpleasant bike rides, and a few other nasties. With the deadline of 30 December 2009 the city has posted a DEIR (725 California Avenue) and the planner in charge who wants to hear from you is Steve.Mizokami@smgov.net. The documentation is available and has been studied by a committee of Santa Monica Spoke and we are happy to presents a detailed response to the work done so far.

The point of this effort is to make sure that the laudable attempt to make parking easier for car drivers is matched by an equal effort to make cycling and walking and transit use easier for former car drivers. This is how we are “good stewards of the earth” and “make transportation patterns more efficient”. The point is also that as a private school St Monica is an interesting example for the kind of mitigation your usual state school is exempt from. (State schools are apparently not subject to AQMD regulations that apply to normal employers)

School and church are very enthusiastic about their building project, and the motto reads: Better space for our Ministries to transform the world. Imagine: A New Era for St Monica. But somehow our neighbors have not yet understood that “Providing more parking (yay!)” is just a way of creating more driving (boo!). A better space for cars may then actually transform the world for the worse. Again, when you watch the promotional Video for the campaign, you will learn that “The new parking structure tells the community that we want to be good neighbors.” No, dear neighbors of St. Monica, the new parking structure tells the community that rather than thinking of ways to reduce the use of the car, you have raised $ 15 million (Phase 1 total: $27 million) to park them underground. Show us your bikes, and then we will know who is the good neighbor.

Soon the statue of St Monica is due to come back in front of the church, transformed from a simple stone statue to a proper bronze figure, so I hear. As the Saint is moved onto the pedestal, we wish she may get a glimpse of the poor state of the bike parking located behind her. Imagine: A New Bicycle Era for St Monica. The details of our response to the project are here.

The Budget Process is in full swing, and I think I can hear some bike bells ringing. If you cannot make it to the budget meetings then the Web Form or an email to budget@smgov.net could do the trick.

And if you are able to make it to the meetings (Calendar here), bring an empty stomach, and have a good look around: They have food, and at Ocean Park I counted approx 35 city employees being present and waiting to be called upon to give detailed answers. A bit curious, really, as employees seemed to outnumber citizens.