The California Transportation Commission has released the latest round of state funding for active transportation projects.
The CTC, which is distinct from Caltrans, selected just 49 projects statewide, out of a remarkable 454 applications, for this four-year cycle.
The good news for LA is that a major project in the San Fernando Valley made the cut.
Highlights include the largest monetary award in the ATP’s history, $31 million for “Connecting Canoga Park.” This project will make improvements within the Canoga Park neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, focusing on improving intersections and bike facilities. It will add a new Class IV bike path between the L.A. River Greenway and the Orange Line path, create enhanced crosswalks, and add urban cooling elements.
Funding was also approved for three Safe Routes to School projects in the City of Los Angeles.
Other projects in LA County include sidewalk improvements and a $7.5 million cycle track on Pacific Avenue in Long Beach, as well as projects in Maywood, Bell Gardens and South El Monte.
In addition, the commission blessed active transportation projects in San Jacinto and Perris in Riverside County, Ontario and Muscoy in San Bernardino County; San Diego, Oceanside, Imperial Beach and National City in San Diego County; and a Safe Routes to School project in Ventura County.
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The peloton suddenly rides in reverse when confronted by a frightened bull in the middle of a Spanish bike race.
https://twitter.com/stereo100xela/status/1358444112211509259
For the Español challenged, like me, that tweet translates to —
#Ciclismo| This happened during the start of the 5th stage of the Tour Por La Paz in Jalapa. A scared bull, pounced on the cyclists waiting for departure. Fortunately no one was injured. The animal continued its course and the riders managed to get out. Via Hard To Pedal.
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South LA’s annual Ride for Love rolls this Saturday.
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Metro Bike invites you to take a self-guided ride along the Westside’s Ballona Creek.
https://twitter.com/BikeMetro/status/1359210471384096770
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Thirty-three minute of mountain bike fails leading up to one spectacular stunt no one has done before.
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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police in North Carolina are looking for a man who hit a woman in the head with a bicycle while shopping in Walmart.
A Japanese man charged with bike rage may be a repeat offender; he says he did it “…because all the cars were putting pressure on me…” and he wanted to make trouble for them.
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Local
Zocalo Public Square examines how Karate Kid reboot Cobra Kai illustrates the topographic and class divides between the neighboring cities of Reseda and Encino, with an expanded bike path connected to the LA River coming to the former.
Streets For All will host a virtual happy hour with recently elected LA Councilmember Nithya Raman.
State
La Jolla approves plans to extend San Diego County’s Coastal Rail Trail through the exclusive city.
Solvang will get a new $12 million bridge on Highway 246 courtesy of the state, while the city will pitch in another $1.2 million to widen it enough for bike lanes and pedestrian improvements. Which is probably just another word for sidewalks.
A Fresno man is expected to recover after he was stabbed by three men who took his bike in an early morning attack.
Sad news from South San Francisco, where a man died after crashing his ebike into a parked car in an early morning wreck, wearing a novelty helmet that offered little or no protection. And possibly after drinking.
A new proposal calls for taking advantage of lower traffic to install a bike lane on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge.
National
Last year may have been one of the worst years on record for hit-and-runs involving people on bicycles, as unofficial figures from Outside show 26.3% of drivers who killed a bicyclist last year drove away like the heartless cowards they are. That tracks with what we see here in Los Angeles County, where roughly a quarter of all bicycling deaths involve hit-and-run drivers each year.
Gear Junkie highlights five “badass” female outdoor photographers, including three who take some pretty awesome bike photos.
A governing website offers advice on how local governments can include bicycling in their municipal codes.
Bicycling asks if you should be double masking when you ride. Short answer, maybe, but make sure you can breathe. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.
Ostensibly bike-friendly Portland tosses out a 24-year old plan for bike lanes on a popular commercial street in favor of maintaining parking and five lanes of motor vehicle traffic.
Chicago traffic fatalities spiked 45% last year, despite — or maybe because of — the pandemic, as average speeds increased while traffic rates declined; bicycling deaths more than doubled over the year before.
That’s more like it. An Indianapolis man with a history as a habitual drunk driver got nine years behind bars, and another three years probation, for fleeing the scene after killing a man on a bicycle.
Kindhearted local businesses and organizations pitched in to help a Massachusetts man known as the Bike Man fix his truck after he blew an engine, with a car dealer tossing in a new engine and a repair shop installing it; he uses the truck to deliver bicycles, back packs and food to people in need.
A 22-year old New York driver faces charges of assault, hit-and-run and reckless endangerment for fleeing the scene on foot after critically injuring a delivery rider.
Philadelphia will install its first curb-protected bike lane, placing it along the center median to avoid conflict points at driveways.
International
Bike Radar drills down to the nerdy details that should inform your decision to buy a bike.
Cycling News examines the best women’s winter bike jackets.
Your next ebike could tell you how to avoid air pollution, let alone avoid adding to it.
Bike, run, walk or swim farther than you have before, and a bike-riding English professor — the country, not the language — will plant a tree in your honor.
You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in the UK, where an unlicensed and uninsured driver walked without a single day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a bike rider.
Europe’s longest bike bridge just opened in the Netherlands.
Manilla bike riders are calling for the city to speed up plans to install protected bike lanes.
Competitive Cycling
Maybe Fayetteville really is America’s Bike City, as the Arkansas town will host professional mountain bike, cyclocross and road races in 2021.
Finally…
Maybe one day you, too, can be a bicycling brewista. That feeling when you win a bike for watching a bicycling show, but don’t ride one.
And how to ride a bike at 68° below zero.
Which is probably not something you have to worry about here in Los Angeles.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already.
