Category Archives: bike lanes

Main St. bike lanes win VNC support

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Santa Monica Main Street Bike Lane extension into Venice (LA)
See first article here

In the meeting Tuesday night the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) Board of Directors voted to support the road diet that
will add bike lanes to Main St. from the Santa Monica border to the Windward Circle in Venice.  I forget the exact vote, but it carried by a wide majority.  LADOT was able to get their management to approve a small but significant change to improve the project.  The central turn lane width can now be reduced by one foot to allow the bike lanes to be increased by a half foot on each size, making them a minimum of 5.5 feet at their narrowest point.  The revised design will now have 7 foot parking lanes on either side, 11 foot travel lanes, a 9 foot full length two-way turn lane in the center and the 5.5 foot (minimum) bike lanes.  The bike lanes will be wider in some areas where there is more overall roadway width.

About 10-12 people from the public spoke on the item, with all but 2 or 3 urging the Board to support the project.   Construction of the lanes is expected to begin shortly, in something like a month or two.

A big thanks to everyone who came to speak or sent emails to the VNC Board and to LACBC for their advocacy and outreach work on this. And of course a special thanks is due to the Bikeway staff at LADOT who have been working on this project for years.  Thank You!

Kent Strumpell
LABAC,
SMSpoke Steering Committee

In a Post on BikeSide we see some in depth research into this project – with pros and cons.  A very good read for sure.  It is always a difficult line to tread between wanting to see things happen and chancing it by holding out for the best (or better) solutions.  See the comment by BikingInLA’s Ted Rogers.  It is also important to note that pressure & negotiating for projects like this is a on going process and is not only applied at public meetings but is a continuing process for community bike advocates.

 

Beverly Hills Ad-Hoc Bike Plan meeting THIS MONDAY

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Our friends to the east Better Bike Beverly Hills, another of LACBC’s Regional Groups could use our support.

This from Mark Elliot at Better Bike Beverly Hills.


THIS MONDAY the Beverly Hills Ad-Hoc Bike Plan Update Committee meets with bike advocates. This is only the second open meeting of
the ad-hoc, and they want to get the word out to those in and around the city who focus on bike planning and active transportation issues. Let’s remind the Ad-Hoc commissioners that the city must step up now.

Mark your calendar:

Beverly Hills Ad-Hoc Bike Plan Update Committee
Monday, August 29th 5 pm
345 Foothill Rd. Beverly Hills, CA 90210

According to Elliot without collective pressure, the committee’s ambition has slackened and its work program has languished.

You can read more about the first meeting here:
See Marks recent letter to the commissioners here:

Greater challenges lie ahead. Regional connectivity is one of Better Bike’s
key priorities, but on-road, bi-directional bike lanes for SM Blvd is a
heavy political lift (even for sympathetic electeds – and we now have two of
five City Council members working with us). It may come down to only an
additional few inches of pavement for the lanes, but we’ll need to highlight
the virtues and allay the concerns about community backlash.  The SM Bike lane is an issue that Bike Beverly Hills plans to see through at every step of the way.

Bike Beverly Hills folks would like to see you there on Monday or at a City Council meetings beyond.

 

Want to get involved? They have regular meetings the 1st Monday and a ride on the 2nd Sunday of the month.
Visit their site at BetterBike.org for more info.

REPORT: Main Street Task Force Meeting, 6/16

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Click image for full LADOT .pdf presentation

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.  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.  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.  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.  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.  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.

 

 

What’s New on 11th Street? And What about the Green X’s

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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).  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.

Bicycle Action Plan Community Meeting

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The next important step in the process to formulate Santa Monica’s Bicycle Action Plan is Monday, May 16th when the city will host a workshop for community input. Community input is essential for creating a Bicycle Acton Plan that will be effective and useful for residents and visitors to Santa Monica.

Free Bike Valet will be provided by the city.

Please spread the word, we look forward to seeing you there!

When:    May 16th
Time:      6:30pm to 8:30pm
Where:   Santa Monica Civic (east wing), 1855 Main Street

Ride your bike – bike valet will be provided.
The Civic Center is accessible by Big Blue Bus lines 2, 3, Rapid 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9.

Update: the meeting time has been corrected and will begin at 6:30pm