Day 100 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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The only surprise is they did it.
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that LADOT made their Wednesday deadline to post a website listing their progress on Measure HLA, as required by the ordinance passed by the voters a year ago with two-thirds support.
But of all the resurfacing projects on all the streets in LA — which sounds like a line from Casablanca — they only managed to list seven lousy projects.
And surprise, surprise, claim they are all exempt from the measure.
Every last one.
According to Linton,
The website lists just seven projects, all of which LADOT claims do not trigger Measure HLA.
The seven projects are:
- Cesar Chavez Great Streets (see SBLA coverage of early pedestrian improvements)
- Hollywood Boulevard safety/bike upgrades (opened 2024, with short second phase east of Virgil Avenue pending)
- Mid-City Low Stress Bicycle Enhancement Corridors (future)
- Mission Road bike lanes (under construction)
- Roscoe Boulevard bus lanes (opened 2024)
- San Vicente protected bike lanes (future – completing and extending this 2022 project)
- Washington Blvd Pedestrian Transit Access Phase 2
The website includes no status, no dates for these seven projects. Most are pending; it appears that just one (Roscoe) has been completed.
What’s not on the map? In late 2024, LADOT claimed that three projects had been triggered by HLA: Hollywood, plus Reseda Boulevard and Manchester Boulevard. Reseda and Manchester are absent. The ballot language states that the website shall include completed projects. It’s not clear why they have been omitted.
It seems clear from the obvious foot-dragging, obfuscation and needless delays that LADOT and city leadership have no intention of complying with Measure HLA, and are looking for any excuse they can find to avoid living up to it.
That includes Metro’s Vermont Ave project, where the official consensus seems to “So sue us, already.”
Let’s hope someone takes them up on it.
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No surprise here, either.
After a successful Phase 1, Phase 2 of Metro and LADOT’s universal basic mobility program has been beset by seemingly endless and unexplained delays.
The second phase of the Metro Mobility Wallet was supposed to launch last year, providing 2,000 low-income residents with $1,800, divided into two equal payments.
The money is intended to be used for any transportation expenses, from paying for bus passes or rideshare, to buying a bicycle. But more than four months later, no one has been able to access a dime on the preloaded debit cards.
It’s possible that the problems lie with the card provider, who is reportedly having problems with another client, as well.
But even if that’s the case, it raises questions of why — like the California Air Resources Board and a seemingly moribund ebike voucher program — they chose a provider who is unable to service the program, raising obvious questions of judgement.
And if not, the questions becomes just who or what the problem is.
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The defense attorney for Sean Higgins, the driver accused of killing the hockey-playing Gaudreau brothers as they rode their bikes the night before their sister’s New Jersey wedding, wants to have the charges against his client tossed.
Which is pretty much what every defense attorney everywhere wants.
However, his reasoning is that the grand jury wasn’t told the brothers had been drinking before getting on their bikes, and were legally drunk at the time of the crash.
Even though, unlike driving, biking under the influence is perfectly legal in New Jersey.
And even though their drinking had nothing to do with why Higgins was attempting to pass two other drivers on the right, while speeding and over the legal alcohol limit, with two wheels on the shoulder and two on the grass verge when he slammed into the Gaudreau’s bikes.
But other than that, sure.
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Caltrans is looking for input on a draft plan to remake LA’s killer highway, to make it a little less, uh, murdery.
RELEASE OF PCH MASTER PLAN FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT AND UPCOMING MEETINGS
Today, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is pleased to announce the release of the draft of the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study for a 60-day public review period ending on June 09, 2025. The draft Study can be viewed online at bit.ly/3YhpEnP
Caltrans invites members of the public, stakeholders, and any interested individuals to review the Draft Study and leave your thoughts in the comment box provided here or via email to 07-pchmpfs@publicinput.com. When providing comments via email, please include the relevant section title, page number, figure, or table number when applicable to help us accurately locate the part of the document you’re commenting on.
The draft document will be formally unveiled for public comment at a meeting at Malibu City Hall today, Wednesday, April 9, from 5:30 – 8:00 PM. The meeting will also cover two PCH pavement rehabilitation projects in the cities of Santa Monica, Los Angeles and Malibu, which aim to extend the pavement service life and improve ride quality for motorists on PCH from Santa Monica to the Los Angeles/Ventura County line. For those who cannot attend the April 9 meeting in person, two virtual meetings are also planned to discuss the two pavement rehabilitation projects and Draft PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study. Community members are invited to participate in these workshops to learn about the latest updates and provide input.
For more information, please visit the project website or email
07-pchmpfs@publicinput.com
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps going on.
The bikelash is real. A protected bike lane appeared to be the decisive issue in the Grand Junction, Colorado city council race, with all the winning candidates campaigning against it, with the exception of one woman who ran unopposed.
Houston’s mayor backtracked on his anti-bike lane agenda in the face of withering opposition from bike riders, promising to install a dedicated, but non-protected bike lane to replace the protected lane he ripped out, rather than the previously threatened promised sharrows.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A 65-year old British woman faces charges for the hit-and-run crash that left a two-year old kid with a permanent scar on his head, after crashing into him as he walked with his mother, while she was illegally riding her ebike on a walking path.
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Local
Secret Los Angeles considers the ten most scenic bike trails and routes to explore around the city. Not all of which are all that, you know, scenic.
Streets For All urges support for extending the bus lanes on Lincoln Blvd south from the Santa Monica border to near LAX; the transportation PAC also says a proposal to extend the Ballona Creek Bike Path to the creek’s headwaters is getting closer to reality.
It looks like WeHo bike lanes could be getting a touch of Pantone 349C, aka Hollywood Green, after the city council moved a proposal to paint the city’s bike lanes to the consent calendar to likely be approved at a coming meeting.
State
Heartbreaking news, as authorities identified the 13-year old boy killed by a driver while riding his bike in Clovis yesterday, after leaving home without permission and without his helmet.
Mountain Bike Action considers the history and legacy of the Sea Otter Classic, calling it America’s greatest mountain bike event. Although fans of the Iron House Classic and Leadville Trail 100 might beg to differ.
Bay Area businesses, including a local bike shop, complain about the “pain and trauma” inflicted by Trump’s on-again off-again tariffs; meanwhile, a Minneapolis bike shop owner is in “panic mode” over the tariff uncertainty.
National
People For Bikes says they’re endorsing the Children’s Bill of Rights in Sport because every kid deserves a safe place to ride.
Portland is adding signage and infrastructure improvements to help support the city’s growing bike bus movement.
Washington State is launching a lottery for the state’s $4 million ebike rebate program, with winners getting a $300 voucher towards the purchase of an ebike, and income-eligible households receiving up to $1,200.
A Minnesota bicycle advocacy group is testing an ebike-to-work pilot program, providing five Duluth businesses with ebikes for seven months for their employees to use.
A Loyola of Chicago student recommends bicycling through the city this spring, saying it turned a 45-minute walk into a pleasant 10-minute ride.
International
No bias here. That feeling when a far-right British pol complains about spending for bike lanes no one is using, that everyone is using, while a former Top Gear host says he’s not worried about a dangerous roundabout because he has a car, not a child’s toy.
Competitive Cycling
The Redlands Bicycle Classic opened with a time trial at Lake Perris yesterday, followed by a road race today, and a circuit race tomorrow, ending with a downtown crit on Sunday.
Finally….
Seriously, I’ve got nothing.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
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