Category Archives: Bike Action Plan

More New Buffered Bike Lanes in Santa Monica, on 6th & 14th

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First images of the new Buffered Bike Lanes

These lanes are AWESOME and a JOY to ride. They are not totally finished yet and we haven’t ridden the full length but what we have seen and ridden is wonderful – simply wonderful! These lanes, and more on Ocean Park Blvd between Cloverfield & Centinella, and Montana between Ocean & 7th are due to be completed sometime this coming week.

You will notice that these lanes are buffered not only on the traffic side (left) but on the very important right side – or door zone. These represent a huge improvement over what is the typical or standard bike lane, not only here but in most cities in the US, including bike friendly cites like Portland. Although the lanes lose the buffer at some intersections (where there are left turn pockets) they were comfortable to ride. It is important to note however, that to keep the lanes from “disappearing” altogether at these same intersection some street parking was eliminated, like at 14th and Broadway. With parking in Santa Monica always a hot topic a decision like this would not have been made lightly. I hope that residents in these areas will see a value and added benefit to their street in the form of traffic calming afforded by the road diet and the new safer bike lanes. Maybe these new safer lanes will be that last incentive to get them out to join us on their own bikes!

 

These beautiful new lanes, although wonderful, highlight the faults in much of our old infrastructure. I believe that allocating funds for even some minimal improvements to older bike lanes, like narrowing vehicle travel lanes to minimum widths and adding buffers to bike lanes where possible will be money well spent. Buffers on the door zone side being high on that agenda.

First are the lanes on 6th Street downtown. They run between Wilshire and Colorado. The image here is just south of Wilshire looking south.

 

Second are the 14th Street lanes that are installed between Washington and Pico Blvd. This image is south of Broadway looking north.

 

The next hurdle will be to keep cars from driving in these extra wide lanes and cars and delivery vehicles from double parking for unloading (as has already witnessed). They are new – and will certainly have a learning curve – education and enforcement will be key elements to their ultimate success.

Meanwhile
………….. HAPPY RIDING!

BAP update: New Buffered Bike Lanes going in on Montana Ave!

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Yes it’s True!

If you have been on Montana in the last few days you may have noticed some of the lane markings on the new pavement for bike lanes. Not just bike lanes, but Buffered Bike Lanes like the ones that went in on Bicknell Ave, east of Main Street this past March.

Bicknell Buffered Lanes, Â Â Â Â Â Â Â East off Main St. (So. of Pico)

Chalk lines went in to line out the markings, and although they might not be exciting to some – I think this group may find them an exciting and beautiful sight indeed! Unlike the lanes on Bicknell Ave that connect a two block stretch between Main St. and 4th, the lanes on Montana will ultimately go from Ocean Ave to 17th Street and intersect with several north/south bike facilities now in place. Coupled with the current repaving project on Montana we should see paint laid down for the buffered lanes on Montana Ave. from 7th to 17th sometime middle of next week, current schedule is for Tuesday night.

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The lane configuration between 7th and 17th Streets will be:
7′ parking lane,
7’ buffered bike lane (3’ door zone buffer like Bicknell),
11’ vehicle lane,
10’ center left turn lane.

 

 

For the segment between Ocean Ave and 7th we are told to ignore the current chalk markings the city put in last December as they have adopted a better course of action in the following design configuration:
7’ parking lane,
7’ buffered bike lane, (as above)
10’ vehicle lane.

Although the city is attempting to coordinate the striping of this portion between Ocean Ave and 7th with the repaving and striping from 7th to 17th it is not likely that this portion will happen next week.

With this project there are a few trouble spots. One is at 7th St. where there are left turn pockets on Montana Ave.  The remaining available road area narrows so there is no room at 7th Street to continue the buffered lanes up to and through this intersection. The challenge here will be how to direct cyclist through this intersection clearly and safely. Sharrows? The city is currently working on design configurations to get through the “pinch” at 7th where the road narrows with the addition of the left turn pockets. The second is east of 17th where the road is currently too narrow for bike lanes. We have suggested and heard discussion of sharrows from 17th to 26th but currently do not know if that is the final plan.

We look forward to updating you with paint on the street, what designs the engineers are concidering at the intersection at 7th – and what will be done at the east end of Montana, east of 17th.

Happy Riding!!

Remember you can still send your ideas and suggestions for Bike Action Plan implementation, for this or any areas of the city to BikePlan@SMSpoke.org

 

Siemens Sustainable Community Awards

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Congratulations Santa Monica!

Our Bike Action Plan stands out as “cutting edge”.

Thanks to our biking community and the input that helped to make it all happen!

Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica is being honored for its integrated planning efforts based on its Sustainable City Plan (SCP). Sustainability strategies developed through the SCP are woven into all of the city’s planning documents, particularly the 2010 Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE), which integrates land use and transportation planning activities. Santa Monica has been on the forefront of adopting a Green Building Ordinance and has recently adopted a cutting-edge Bicycle Action Plan.

Integrated Planning

Other initiatives pursued by Santa Monica include:

  • Creative Capital — arts and cultural retention and development
  • Consolidated Plan — affordable housing development
  • The 2008-2014 Housing Element
  • The Historic Preservation Element
  • and many specific plans for all parts of the City, all promoting sustainable development and multi-modal strategies.

Santa Monica also partners with the business community in programs such as “Buy Local,” “Business Greening,” and an effort called the Santa Monica Alliance, which promotes sustainability in terms of maintaining healthy businesses.

Santa Monica Bike Learning Campus Opens Sunday 4/22

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Sunday 4/22 Bike Campus Opening Event

This Sunday we will celebrate the Grand Opening of the Santa Monica Bike Campus. This bike campus facility is an off street facility that is to be used by cycling instructors and the community to practice street cycling skills in a car free environment.

We will celebrate the opening of the Bike Campus on Earth Day with lots of fun, festivities and education. There will be a Beach Bike Rodeo* aimed at middle school students and their parents, food, and raffle prizes. A coordinated collaboration with the City of Santa Monica, Santa Monica Bike Center and Santa Monica Spoke we will have bike safety checks with LCI’s (League of American Bicyclist Certified Instructors) at the different stations to teach safe bike traffic skills and obstacle avoidance techniques and to demonstrate how the community can use this great benefit to practice and improve their cycling skills on their own. You can bring your own bike or borrow one of ours.

Ribbon cutting ceremony at 12:30 with Mayor Richard Bloom
Bike Rodeo Classes, raffles, food and festivities from 1:00-3:00pm
Information on how we can  “Bring CicLAvia to Santa Monica and the westside”
At 3:00pm  Santa Monica Spoke will host another “Ride the BAP” to see and discuss more of the recent and upcoming bike infrastructure implementations.
We also hope to have our SMPD Bike Liaison Sgt McLaughlin in attendance.

The Santa Monica Bike Campus is located on a section of roadway no longer used that connected two parking lots just east of the beach bike path at Dorothy Green Park where Ocean Park Boulevard ends at Barnard way. The campus is painted with road markings and obstacle courses for teaching bike education classes and includes signage with instructions for self guided learning. It is painted with simulated vehicle lanes, street signage like stop signs, sharrows, crosswalks and bike lanes. It is used to teach lane positioning and obstacle avoidance as part of the curriculum of the League of American Bicycling’s Smart Cycling.

The facility is the first of its kind in Los Angeles. It is a dedicated space used to teach the road portion of the Confident City Cycling Skills by LCI’s (League Certified Instructors), as well as by the community with the self guided instruction signage and online videos. The area can also be used by local schools to teach bike skills in a safe space before introducing students to real traffic. This campus has long been envisioned by bike advocates in Santa Monica, Ron Durgin, GM of the Santa Monica Bike Center and Planning Commissioner Richard McKinnon, (BikeIt Day ) as well as us at Santa Monica Spoke. Last Year the City demonstrated its commitment to education by hosting a three day instructor training for League of American Bicyclist Instructors Certification. Santa Monica Spoke’s Director Cynthia Rose, Bryan Beretta and Mihai Piteu were certified as instructors along with a few members of the local community and 4 members from the City. We believe having an engaged City staff knowledgeable in cyclist rights and responsibilities as well as the many other skills learned in this training was a catalyst that helped us create a great Bike Action Plan that will serve the community well into the future. The City now offers monthly bike skills classes paid for by a safety grant coordinated by SM Bike Center’s Ron Durgin. The Confident City Cycling Classes, free for participants are taught here in Santa Monica, and also in West Hollywood and Burbank.

With the opening of this bike campus we can also hope to facilitate a traffic diversion program advocated by Santa Monica Spoke. This campus could now be used for bike education diversion program like Portland, OR or in Huntington Beach for bicyclists cited for moving violations like running stop signs and red lights to riding on sidewalks. In these programs, not unlike traffic school – a traffic safety class for cyclist is offered as a less expensive alternative to higher punitive penalties. But more importantly it offers offenders education instead of fees to help correct their behavior. Spoke had been working with former Cheif Jackman, exploring the implementation of such a program here in Santa Monica. We look forward to seeing this continue with the new Chief of Police Jacqueline Seabrooks.

“Bring CicLAvia to Santa Monica and the Westside”
We will launch the campaign to bring this hugely successful Los Angeles event west. You will be able to sign up to get involved or just stay informed.  We will have a map for you to help us in suggesting a route.

We are looking forward to a wonderful event this Sunday and hope you can join us to celebrate this next piece in the puzzle as we create a safer, more bikeable and walkable community.

*co-sponsored by Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District PTA Council