While the world is literally burning, Los Angeles opens a massive new parking garage to encourage more people to drive to LAX.
Yes, Los Angeles will open a people mover to finally connect the airport to the city’s rail system in another two years.
Something that should have happened nearly two decades ago when the Green Line, now called the C Line, inexplicably bypassed the airport. Note: I originally misidentified this as the Blue Line; thanks to John for the correction.
The $5.5 billions plan to improve non-automotive access to the airport also promises to make it easier to bike to there. But exactly what that means, and when we’ll finally see it on the streets, remains unclear.
But as this massive car storage facility makes clear, the city is planning for driving to remain the primary way to access the airport for the foreseeable future — if not actively encouraging it through induced demand.
Climate emergency be damned.
Here’s another view.
https://twitter.com/schroedinger_/status/1450599873477152768
Thanks to Ted Faber and Schroedinger for the heads-up.
Photo of smoke-shrouded sky by Cole Keister from Pexels.
………
Frightening video from the Bay Area earlier this month, when a small group of bicyclists were nearly run down by a driver who fell asleep and crossed over onto the wrong side of the road.
San Francisco Streetsblog’s Roger Rudick offers it as evidence that painted bike lanes are immoral, leaving vulnerable road users in mortal danger.
https://twitter.com/WarrenJWells/status/1446183478777679888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1446183478777679888%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsf.streetsblog.org%2F2021%2F10%2F19%2Fwhy-painted-bike-lanes-are-immoral-in-one-video%2F
Although it’s hard to imagine that most protected bike lanes would prevent something like this, either.
Rudick notes that only a curb-protected bike lane or a parking protected lane would have kept this driver out.
And even those are questionable, since there’s a good chance the snoozing driver could have jumped a curb, while parking protected lanes depend on whether anyone is actually parked there at the time.
Never mind any of the more common bollard protected lanes, whether the fat plastic bollards or the car-tickler plastic bendie posts that are euphemistically termed protection.
The gold standard for protection remains heavy, albeit ugly, k-rails, or planters that are anchored to the pavement.
But plastic is less expensive. And paint is even cheaper.
Which should tell you what officials think our lives are worth.
………
Southern California Families for Safe Streets is hosting their monthly brunch to fight traffic violence this Saturday.
Tired of accepting car crashes, high speed, & death on our roads as a part of LA life? Are you or a loved one a victim of traffic violence? Help build community, transform infrastructure, and change laws to make LA streets safer. RSVP here: https://t.co/kaTAaKekcc pic.twitter.com/cLiznKTZ5C
— Los Angeles Walks (@LosAngelesWalks) October 19, 2021
………
One of the big question marks in traffic safety is the shifting perceptions on the roll law enforcement should play.
Pls join us for a city-to-city discussion on Re-thinking the Role of Enforcement in Traffic Safety Work October 28. We'll hear from #VisionZero leaders in Portland, Seattle & NYC. More & register: https://t.co/umm9LmFAef And read about 1st in this series: https://t.co/cpNz6Jo6Ux pic.twitter.com/3qAjx2ItYZ
— Vision Zero Network (@Visionzeronet) October 19, 2021
………
This is what could happen here if we had safer streets.
Something special is happening in Barcelona. It started last month when some parents organized a bike ride to school for just five kids. Now entire neighborhoods are joining. They call it Bicibús – or Bike Bus. pic.twitter.com/qIxsQEervG
— Zach Klein (@zachklein) October 18, 2021
………
This is who we share the road with.
Hedge fund guy's idea of a joke. https://t.co/EjwCg2a3bo
— Peter Flax (@Pflax1) October 19, 2021
………
That feeling when you get kicked out of Prada with your $40 bike shorts.
The Prada store in Aspen sells $1000 bike shorts and I tried to try some on for my video and compare to the $40 ones from The Black Bibs, but they kicked me out.
— Phil Gaimon (@philgaimon) October 18, 2021
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps going on.
Life is cheap in London, where a driver walked with a year of community service for intentionally running down a bike rider, who turned out to be the city’s former bicycling czar.
………
Local
The Southern California Association of Governments, aka SCAG, received a $1.25 million state grant for its award-winning Go Human campaign.
Santa Monica is in the process of adding a protected bike lane and protected intersections on 17th Street, as well as other safety projects on streets surrounding the 17th Street/SMC Metro Station.
Sit-down e-scooter provider Wheels settled a consumer protection lawsuit with Santa Monica for $300,000, after the city accused it of operating without a permit.
Eternals actress Malin Akerman is one of us, after she was spotted riding the streets of Los Feliz with her eight-year old son on the back of a fat tire ebike.
State
No news is good news, right?
National
The Bike League is looking for a temporary Advocacy and Outreach Assistant to help prepare for next year’s National Bike Summit.
A Streetsblog op-ed makes the case for reducing inequities in our cities through better management of the streets.
Singletracks offers a beginner’s guide to truing your mountain bike wheels.
A record-setting ebike rider is making a 6,500-mile loop around the US on a custom-built solar-powered electric bike, although he’s skipping the Deep South for some reason.
A 60-year old Portland woman has been frightened off her bike after she was left-crossed by a driver while riding in a crosswalk. Fortunately, she wasn’t seriously injured, but says the fear has deprived her of an important mobility tool. Simply put, we will never make a serious dent in car usage until average people of all ages feel safe on our streets without one.
San Antonio is the latest city converting its entire bikeshare system to ebikes.
Salem, Massachusetts is considering lifting a ban on ebikes, which are technically illegal under a state law intending to ban mopeds.
No surprise here, as New York’s only safe streets PAC has endorsed Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams over Republican nominee and avowed bike lane hater Curtis Sliwa, who wants to remove any bike lanes that aren’t actively used.
Gothamist asks if New York is about to get its first bike mayor, after presumptive winner Adams pledges to regularly ride his bike to and from City Hall, adding “I think if people start seeing their mayor on a bike, they’d be more encouraged to know that the streets are safe to ride their bikes.” Although an actual bike mayor is something entirely different.
A 72-year old Virginia woman has completed the last leg of her record-setting cross-country bike ride, using her route to draw a peace sign across the US in honor of her brother, who was killed when his plane went down in Laos when she was 20 years old.
Brian Laundrie may be one of us, after the reputed prime suspect in the killing of killing of Gabby Petito was reportedly seen riding a bicycle a few hours north of his Florida home. Then again, he’s also reportedly been seen all over the state, and as far north as the Appalachian Trail.
International
A new survey shows 40 percent of British people would consider buying an ebike, a jump of 11 percent since before the pandemic.
Pink Bike says clipless Crocs are a thing now, developed by a three-time French bike polo champ.
A Spanish firm has released the final designs for a wooden bike you can download and build yourself for around $500. Or maybe you’d rather buy a completed bespoke wooden bike for the equivalent of around $5,400.
Hungary plans to install eight luminescent, glow-in-the bike lanes by the end of the year.
I want to be like him when I grow up. An 80-year old Turkish man has ridden a bicycle almost every day for 71 years, and still rides 12 miles a day, when he’s not caring for sick or injured animals.
More proof bicycling pays, as bikes contribute a massive $6.3 billion to the Australian economy.
Competitive Cycling
Who says cyclists aren’t tough? Dutch pro Annemiek van Vleuten is already back on her bicycle, just two weeks after breaking her pelvis and shoulder in the inaugural women’s Paris-Roubaix.
Finally…
Buy this unique mountain bike for $2,500 and get the patent for it free. Maybe it’s not the best idea to steal a bike from behind the police station since it probably belongs to a cop.
And that feeling when bikes power the show.
https://twitter.com/BBC/status/1449814065468018689
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
I think you mean the Green Line when you’re talking about transit bypassing LAX…the Blue Line (now A-line) goes nowhere near LAX, connecting Downtown LA to Long Beach.
Thanks, John. I’ll make the fix.