BikinginLA

Just 166 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A few people have already volunteered to write guest posts to help keep this site from going dark when I’m out next month following my shoulder surgery.

So if you’re interested in filling in here for a few days, or joining them in submitting a guest post or two, just email me at the address on the About page above.

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The Orange County Transportation Authority, aka OCTA, announced the closure of the San Juan Creek multi-use path starting today for construction work on a new Metrolink railroad bridge.

Here’s a press release they sent out yesterday announcing the closure. Although a little advance notice would have been nice.

San Juan Creek Bike/Pedestrian Trail to Temporarily Close as Part of Railroad Bridge Construction

The San Juan Creek Trail is scheduled to close Thursday, July 18 to Friday, Aug. 2, with intermittent closures through August; detour maps will be posted

ORANGE – The Orange County Transportation Authority, in coordination with Metrolink, continues progress in constructing a new railroad bridge over San Juan Creek in San Juan Capistrano. As part of the ongoing construction, the adjacent San Juan Creek Trail is expected to close for approximately two weeks beginning on Thursday, July 18.

Cyclists and pedestrians who use the trail are being asked to plan for the closure, follow the designated detour route or avoid the area during the closure, if possible.

During the closure, trail users will be detoured to Camino Capistrano, Del Obispo Street and the Trabuco Creek Trail. Detour signs will be in place. (See the map below for more details.)

The detour is necessary so that construction crews can remove pavement and conduct pile driving to construct the new bridge that will go over the trail. The trail is expected to reopen on Friday, Aug. 2.

However, after the scheduled closure, contractors are expected to continue working in the area, prompting intermittent trail closures through August. During that time, workers will be present to hold back trail traffic for their safety as construction equipment  is moved through the area.

OCTA appreciates the patience of trail users during this construction.

The work is being completed in partnership with Metrolink as part of a $65.6 million project to replace the existing San Juan Creek bridge, which was constructed in 1917, enhancing safety and reducing maintenance costs.

The project is being funded by Measure M, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements, and a mix of state and federal funds.

For more information, visit octa.net/SJCBridge.

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Burbank will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the popular Chandler Bike Path next month with a free, drop-in event near the intersection of Pass and Chandler from 6 to 8 pm on August 14th.

But what do you mean they didn’t name it after Chandler Bing from Friends, which was filmed at nearby Warner Brothers Studios?

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Caltrans is hosting a pair of virtual meetings today to discuss how to improve safety on the killer highway that passes for Malibu’s main street. So if you ride, walk or drive on PCH, you owe it to yourself to join in to protect your own safety.

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People for Mobility Justice is leading a ride on Saturday to check out the coming the Slauson Ave bike/ped path.

Join us this Saturday!! People for Mobility Justice is leading a community ride through #SouthCentralLA to showcase amazing green spaces and the Slauson Ave bike/ped path under construction. Come through for a family-friendly ride full of good vibes! @GoHumanSoCal pic.twitter.com/rSxLI31xfp

— People for Mobility Justice (@peopleforMJ) July 17, 2024

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Police in the UK have forwarded a case for prosecution after a driver’s “ridiculously close pass” of a bicyclist that was caught on video; unlike most, if not all, of the US, video recordings are acceptable evidence for traffic violations and misdemeanors there.

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Maybe it was just a brief PR stunt, but nice to see Deadpool & Wolverine stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Emma Corrin arrive on bikes for a Berlin media event.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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It’s now 210 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Someone sabotaged a Spokane, Washington mountain bike trail by spreading grease on a rock feature, causing at least one rider to slip and fall, while posting a sign alluding to buried spikes hidden along the trail and threatening to return to pour concrete over it — all because the city is expanding trails located inside a local bike park.

An Irish representative to the European Parliament says she is “totally empathic to cyclists,” while insisting that “authoritarian” bike lanes have turned Dublin “into a spaghetti junction of cycle lanes that have divided the city like East and West Berlin.” Um, sure. 

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Local 

If you need a little good news — and who doesn’t these days — Streetblog’s Joe Linton reports the new bike lanes on the east end of Hollywood Blvd are now open and rideable through the Thai Town neighborhood.

Streetsblog also says the three-mile long Vincent Community Bikeway is coming together after over a year of construction work in the unincorporated Vincent area adjacent to Covina and Irwindale.

State

San Diego city officials show they have a keen grasp on the issues that really matter, voting unanimously to ban loud music on pedicabs.

A Santa Barbara driver was busted for DUI Wednesday after a collision that left a bike rider with minor lacerations.

Sad news from San Joaquin County, where a man was killed riding his bike north of Riverbank when he was run down from behind by a pickup driver Wednesday morning.

Family members are asking for safety improvements to a Sacramento intersection where an 84-year old grandfather was killed riding in an unprotected bike lane last month.

Trail users are raising concerns over allowing ebikes on a new 22-mile singletrack section of multi-use trail in the Tahoe National Forest after the Forest Service concluded they would have no significant impact; the new unpaved path is part of an eventual 72-mile trail system.

National

Forbes says the latest active travel trend is bicycling escapes at top luxury resorts — including the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows right here in Santa Monica.

Helmet use appears to be declining in Utah, despite an increase in bike riders getting hit by drivers; only 1.45% of bicyclists involved in crashes in the state last year were wearing helmets, down from 11.31% just five years ago.

Police in Boulder, Colorado are investigating a suspicious death after a homeless woman was found wrapped in several layers inside an “unusual” bike trailer, although they’re not saying what she was wrapped in or what was unusual about the trailer.

A lowrider bike club in Olathe, Kansas now has nine chapters across the US, including the first located inside a juvenile detention center.

Bicyclists and hikers can finally cross Vermont on a new 93-mile rail trail across the northern part of the state, after the official opening was delayed by epic flooding last year.

A woman was arrested for a killing a Florida man riding a bicycle in a hit-and-run last year, when surveillance cameras caught her driving on a Western Kentucky highway on Tuesday.

Makes sense. A Florida man plans to incorporate the 51-year old Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, aka RAGBRAI, as part of his fundraising ride on a Penny Farthing across the US to combat autism.

Port St. Lucie, Florida is just the latest East Coast city cracking down on juvenile rideouts, taking a zero-tolerance approach to the kids weaving through — and sometimes against — traffic

International

Road.cc says yes, bike commuting can lower your risk of early death by 47% — but only if you don’t get hit by a driver, since it also doubles your risk of serious injury.

They get it. Tijuana is repairing a pedestrian bridge used by over 10,000 people a month in the Zona Río, while adapting it for use by bicycles, as well.

“A team of four passionate cyclists” is banding together to save iconic, 80-year old British bespoke bikemaker Mercian Cycles, saying they didn’t want to see it disappear despit entering voluntary liquidation proceedings earlier this year.

A man in the UK was sentenced to life behind bars for murdering a woman by pushing her down a flight of stairs in a fight over a kid’s bike. Yet another reminder that no bicycle is worth a human life. Or life behind bars.

The European Commission may take a look at the importation of America’s massive pickups after a number of advocacy organizations raised concerns that they may be exploiting loopholes to skirt safety and environmental protection regulations.

Competitive Cycling

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar is closing in on his third Tour de France title, as he maintained a more than three-minute lead over fellow two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard.

Maybe we need a new jersey color, after Road.cc staffers announced Belgian Remco Evenepoel is the best at doing “keepie uppies.”

Finally..

Never led a sad separation from your husband prevent a celebrity bicycling photo opp. And that feeling when a new law banning devices to boost ebike speeds is already having a positive effect before anyone even knows about it.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin