Wolfpack Hustle’s Don Ward — aka Roadblock — debates bike lanes with KFI-640’s bike-hating John and Ken.
I haven’t had a chance to listen to this one myself yet, but knowing Don, it should be well worth the listen. If you can tolerate the willful indignorance of the hosts, anyway. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the link.
Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers constructive criticism of the Times’ pro-bike plan editorial criticizing District 1 councilmember Gil Cedillo’s veto of the North Figueroa road diet and bike lanes.
Designed to be deadly? An Irish girl is the latest child to be impaled by the handlebars of her bike, a so-called freak accident that seems to happen on a regular basis.
Amazing idea, as the Cold War-era Iron Curtain is being turned into a 4,225 mile bike trail. Those of us old enough to remember the bad old days could never have imagined something like this.
Bike lane opponents often claim the painted lanes encourage drivers to pass at an unsafe distance. But a new study from the UK (pdf) finds just the opposite.
The study compared urban streets with and without bike lanes; drivers on the streets with bike lanes were shown to pass cyclists at a greater distance than on those without, with fewer cases of unsafe passing.
That doesn’t exactly jibe with my personal experience, though.
I find drivers in the lane next to a bike lane don’t usually move over to provide a safe passing distance. Especially bus drivers. Even if you’re hugging the left side line to avoid the door zone.
But then, I’ve never conducted an independent study of the matter.
Then again, the new three-foot passing law that goes into effect in September does not include an exemption for passing riders in bike lanes, so hopefully drivers will learn to give a little more space here, as well.
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I wasn’t able to make it this year, for the first time since I’ve been a board member.
Speaking of the LACBC, their new 2014 team kits are now available for pre-order at a discount before July 5th.
If you’re a spandex-clad member like me, you’ll want to wear the coalition’s colors with pride. But you don’t have to be a member — or even live in the LA area — to wear it. Anyone who wants to look and feel good on a bike is welcome place an order.
And yes, you will look good.
I’ve got the previous all black version, which is the only jersey I own that is actually flattering and doesn’t make me look like a total bike geek.
And the bright black coloring is surprisingly cool and very noticeable during daylight hours; with the new white back panel and reflectorized details, it should stand out even more, day or night.
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Local
Burbank Congressman Adam Schiff becomes the first US Representative to complete the AIDS/Lifecycle Ride from San Francisco to LA.
The hit-and-run epidemic hits our neighbor to the south, as San Diego has its deadliest year for hit-and-runs since 2009. And it’s only June.
Sadly, the husband of California’s first female Episcopal bishop is killed in a bicycling collision with an 83-year old driver. Thanks to Biker395 and Mike for the heads-up.
Shades of failed 1980’s road design, as a Mountain View bike lane sacrifices rider safety for the sake of automotive throughput.
A Canadian publication asks if there’s any hope for détente in the war between bikes and cars. But can we please drop any further reference to the mythical war on cars?
A writer asks if Madrid is too dangerous for the city’s new e-bike share system; then again, they said the same thing about New York before Citi Bike opened.
A New Zealand truck driver admits to careless driving in the death of a bike rider; he plays the universal Get Out of Jail Free card, claiming he just didn’t see her. But why was a 75-year old man behind the wheel of a 10-ton truck in the first place?
The facilities included in the sample — hand-picked bikeways from Austin, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Chicago and Portland — showed a massive increase in bike traffic, received high marks for improving safety of all road users, and have won over the hearts and minds of people whether they use them or not.
The story goes on to say a quarter of riders say they ride more because of the protected lanes, while protected lanes increase bike traffic an average of 72% in the first year alone. In addition, 96% of people using the lanes felt safer, and 76% of people living nearby support building additional protected lanes, whether they use them or not.
And most significant of all, in an analysis of 144 hours of video footage, nearly 12,900 cyclists passed through the intersections under study without a single collision.
Hopefully authorities will be able to make out the license and press charges for assault. And hopefully they’ll take it as seriously as they say they will.
Mayor Garcetti will announce the city’s first 15 Great Streets on Tuesday, one for each council district. Including North Figueroa, where Councilmember Gil Cedillo has been actively blocking the bike lanes and road diet that would help make it great.
Speaking of the AIDS/LifeCycle ride, four participants were right hooked by a driver Monday morning; fortunately, none appear to be seriously injured.
A high school exchange student learns the hard way that Shasta Lake is no Holland when it comes to bikes.
National
It’s been a bad week for Wyoming cyclists, as two riders are killed by suspected drunk drivers in three days, and a third rider — the wife of one of the victims — was seriously injured. The state is in freefall when it comes to bike-friendliness, dropping 25 spots in just four years.
Despite gloom and doom predictions, not one person has died using New York’s Citi Bike bike share program in over 8.75 million journeys.
Bike Snob astutely asks when the hell a bike lane ever stopped a cab driver from parking, and who do you think will police blame when a driverless car hits a cyclist, since they already blame the rider anyway?
Bike racing’s governing body enters bicycle advocacy. After all, they’ve done so well running the dope-free world of racing, right?
Finally…
When a father tries to teach his daughter to ride a bike, a neighbor comes out to offer his advice. Then threatens him with a shotgun when he doesn’t take it. And evidently, drivers aren’t the only ones who hate bikes, as a deer follows an employee into a bike shop before knocking him down and trashing the place.
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Don’t forget to go out and Bike the Vote today. It’s only when bike riders stay home — or don’t vote their interests — that we get the sort of elected leaders who actively stand in the way of safer streets.
Despite the city’s best efforts — that would be Los Angeles, not Beverly Hills — the dangerously convoluted intersection of Burton Way and San Vicente and La Cienega Boulevards near the Beverly Center remains a confusing and dangerous place to ride a bike.
Writing for Flying Pigeon, Richard Risemberg notes that Los Angeles has added a bike lane along northbound San Vicente, with sharrows directing cyclists riding through to Burton Way.
The southbound side, which evidently is within the Beverly Hills city limits, currently has none. Nor am I aware of any plans to paint any bike lanes anywhere within the city other than the two already in existence, including one that matches up with LA’s lanes on Burton Way.
As it turns out, I found myself riding home from a meeting Downtown on Wednesday night, so I gave the newly restriped intersection a try.
To be honest, the bike lane on San Vicente was a significant improvement. While you still need eyes in the back of your head to watch out for speeding drivers on the overly wide lanes, I was able to ride more comfortably on the street than I ever have before — especially since parking is confined to an access road, eliminating the risk of dooring.
The problem comes in attempting to continue through the intersection on San Vicente or navigate the turn onto Burton Way.
Either of which requires contending with busy traffic on the multi-laned intersection, while somehow avoiding vehicles jockeying for position to end up reasonably close to where they want to go.
Meanwhile making the turn onto Burton Way requires crossing over three traffic lanes, then waiting for the light to change on sharrows in the middle of the street — which disappear in the middle of the intersection where you need them most to let drivers know you are, in fact, in the right place, and not just riding in the middle of the damned intersection for the hell of it.
It was bad enough at 10 pm when light traffic allows drivers to turn San Vicente into their own private speedway. I can’t imagine attempting it in the unforgiving traffic at rush hour.
I applaud the city for trying.
But unless and until bike-specific signalization is installed to give riders a head-start before motorized traffic is released, this will remain a dangerous place for bikes to be.
And I will continue my long standing practice of avoiding the intersection entirely by turning left at Colgate, then right on Holt to illegally, but safely, cross over to westbound Burton.
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After a cyclist on a group ride is illegally ticketed by LA County Sheriff’s Deputies for the unforgivable crime of riding abreast in an unsharable traffic lane on PCH, Cycling in the South Bay teams with the LACBC’s Eric Bruins to win the right riders should have already had.
And got the ticket dismissed when the officer fails to appear in court.
LA’s Bicycle Advisory Committee — the city’s only official voice for bike riders — meets Tuesday at Pan Pacific Park. Meanwhile, the next community meeting to discuss the inexplicably troubled North Figueroa bike lanes is scheduled for June 12th.
Plans to save the old Riverside Drive Bridge for bicyclists and pedestrians goes down in flames.
Beverly Hills’ Parks and Recreation director says local kids have no safe places to ride a bike in the city. Then again, adults don’t have many, either.
The road-raging San Diego driver who seriously injured a cyclist on a charity ride is bound over for trial. The aptly named Douglas Lane, who failed to remain in his, could face up to three years behind bars.
Riverside County authorities ask for the public’s help in finding the hit-and-run driver who took the life of an Eastvale bike rider.
In attempting to reopen a long-settled matter of law, a professor argues that San Francisco’s bait bikes are a form of entrapment designed to target poor people. As long as those poor people happen to carry bolt-cutters with them.
Cyclelicious notes “the sun was in my eyes” is the not-so-secret password of the vehicle code. Oddly, it only seems to work for drivers, though.
And eHarmony offers 15 reasons to date a cyclist. I’ve always wondered why riders aren’t in greater demand, since anyone who can spend several hours in the saddle isn’t likely to collapse in exhaustion after five minutes of usuallly less strenuous exercise in bed. I’m just saying.
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Please forgive the lack of Morning Links yesterday; between Wednesday night’s meeting followed by a bad bout with bouncing blood sugar levels, writing just wasn’t an option. Hopefully today’s extended version will make up for it.
Even though the reconstruction gives the city a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fix one of the region’s most congested and dysfunctionally incomplete streets.
And even though it could be done for pennies on the dollar during the massive reconstruction project.
And even though it would connect the bike lanes that currently exist on the boulevard on either side of the city, completing the gap that exists between bike lanes in West Hollywood and Century City.
Personally, I think it’s long past time for a worldwide boycott of the Biking Black Hole, where the dollars of those on bikes seem to be valued far below those who arrive in Bentleys and luxury SUVs.
Maybe they’ll wake up if they start seeing hotel cancellations, as domestic and foreign bike riders choose to spend their money somewhere else. Or when the annual Gran Fondo gets moved to out of Beverly Hills because cyclists refuse to support a city that refuses to support us.
Or maybe the answer is to take a page from their own playbook, where seemingly endless lawsuits have attempted to derail the planned subway-sort-of-to-the-sea.
I don’t know if there are legal grounds to sue Beverly Hills for its hard-hearted failure to find room for bike riders on the rebuilt street, even if it does seem to conflict with the state’s requirement to consider complete streets in any road construction project. Or to accommodate all road users on streets that belong to more than just motor vehicle operators.
Maybe there’s a lawyer out there who’d like answer those questions.
But if nothing else, a lawsuit might delay their plans just enough to make it easier to compromise with bike supporters than fight.
It wouldn’t be cheap.
But that’s one Kickstarter I’d be happy to contribute to.
And the way these things seem to go, possibly forever.
The finger is being pointed at a fear of liability in a notoriously risk-averse city. But as noted last night, I suspect there’s more going on behind the scenes than we may yet be aware of.
Like maybe a wealthy marathon operator upset about those damn bikes piggybacking on their event. Especially when they’re not getting the profits.
Which seems odd, since so many council members seem to be actively opposing complete streets on Westwood Blvd, north and south Figueroa, and Lankershim Blvd, as well as a new and improved bike-friendly 4th Street.
I’m sure Councilmembers Koretz, Cedillo, Price and LaBonge wholeheartedly support complete streets.
As long as they’re in someone else’s district.
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For years, bike and pedestrian advocates have called on police to increase enforcement of traffic laws in an attempt to rein in the wild west mentality on our streets, where too many drivers feel entitled to do anything they damn well please — too often to the detriment of those they share those streets with.
Finally, LAPD Chief Beck is in agreement, declaring this the “year of traffic” with stepped-up enforcement of traffic regulations, including a crackdown on hit-and-runs.
While that’s good news for cyclists who have share the road with dangerous drivers, remember the knife cuts both ways.
Representatives of the department have often said they are required to enforce the law equally. Which means if they see you go through a red light or stop sign, you’re likely to get a ticket, just like a driver would for the same offense.
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Writing for Flying Pigeon, Rick Risemberg fears support for bicycling is backsliding under the Garcetti administration — echoing exactly what I’ve been thinking for the past several months.
Shockingly, the Weekly discovers a group of cyclists who like to get high and ride. Who could have ever imagined?
This simple bar chart clearly illustrates the relative affordability of protected bike lanes. And as long as we’re talking charts, this one from the UK kind of puts the relative risk posed by cyclists in perspective.
In what may be one of the most intentionally offensive public safety spots I’ve seen, Britain’s Top Gear attempts to teach cyclists the difference between red and green. While we all need to observe traffic signals, very few cycling fatalities are the result of riders blowing through red lights; far more often, it’s a driver who fails to stop and kills an innocent victim. So for the boys at Top Gear — and I say this from the bottom of my heart — fuck you. No, seriously.
A UK bike rider is the victim of an anti-bike terrorist attack when someone strings a rope across a walkway at neck level. Oddly, despite Top Gear’s insistence, there is nothing to suggest that she ran a red light before nearly being decapitated.
Finally, South African cyclists face charges in the road rage attack against a van driver. No matter how angry you are or how justified you feel, always — always — resist the temptation to resort to violence, as hard as it may be sometimes.
Which is not to say I’m an angel; I’ve called drivers every name in the book, including some I’ve made up on the spot.
March 4, 2014 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on An open letter to the Beverly Hills City Council
I had planned to attend tonight’s meeting of the Beverly Hills City Council to voice my support for bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd through the city, closing the gap between existing lanes in West Hollywood and Century City when the street is reconstructed next year.
Unfortunately, I am unable to attend tonight. So I’d like to share my thoughts with the Council Members here.
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Dear Beverly Hills City Council Members,
I am not a resident of your city.
Yet I frequently find myself traveling through Beverly Hills on my way to meetings in Downtown LA, whether by bike, bus or car. Whenever possible, I prefer to travel by bicycle; I find it more convenient, safer and less stressful than other means of travel.
With one major exception.
The journey through Beverly Hills is usually, by far, the most dangerous part of my trip.
That is not to say that some parts of my trip through the city aren’t safe and enjoyable. The bike lanes that were recently painted on Burton Way are among the best in the LA area; wide enough to keep riders out of the door zone, while moving us safely out of the way of traffic.
The problem is getting to them.
When travelling east from Century City, cyclists have only a handful options to pass through Beverly Hills.
Olympic Blvd is a high speed thoroughfare much of the day, yet dangerously over-congested during the long rush hour periods, safe for bike travel only at night or on weekends.
Charleville Blvd is a safer alternative, though it forces cyclists to either stop at every intersection or flaunt the law in order to conserve energy, while dodging impatient drivers unwilling to share the road. But it takes riders too far south to connect with those bike lanes on Burton Way.
Wilshire Blvd is simply too congested, dangerously unridable most of the day.
Little Santa Monica through the Golden Triangle connects directly with the Burton Way bike lanes, but the narrow traffic lanes force cyclists to ride directly in front of aggressive, and too often, angry motorists. It is an unpleasant place to ride during the day, and dangerous at rush hour.
As a result, many riders prefer Santa Monica Blvd, even though it currently offers a cramped space for cyclists next to traffic that can vary from high speed to severely congested, often in a matter of blocks. And puts riders at risk of being cut off by frequent buses and both left and right-turning vehicles, whose often out-of-town drivers aren’t looking for bicycles on such a busy street.
Carmelita and Elevado Avenues offer much more pleasant options, but again have the disadvantage of having stop signs on every block, and are too far north to provide a viable alternative for most riders.
We need a safe route through your city. We need bike lanes on Santa Monica Boulevard.
By installing bike lanes on Santa Monica, you will provide bike riders with a safe, convenient route through the heart of Beverly Hills, while creating a single, nearly continuous bikeway from the 405 Freeway to east of La Cienega in West Hollywood. The resulting Westside bikeway will bring bike riders — and their spending power — into the heart of Beverly Hills.
Meanwhile, pass-through riders will be easily able continue on to West Hollywood or Century City, or drop down a single block to connect with the bike lanes on Burton Way.
In addition, you will improve safety and traffic flow on Santa Monica by moving cyclists out of the way of traffic — not just on Santa Monica, but on all the streets mentioned above, as cyclists will be encouraged to take Santa Monica rather than streets like Charleville or Little Santa Monica.
In fact, studies have shown that painted bike lanes reduce injuries for all road users by as much as 50% — and up to 90% for protected bike lanes. Bike lanes also act as traffic control devices by channelizing both cyclists and motorists into their own separate spaces and encouraging compliance with traffic regulations.
And bike lanes are a vital step in transforming Santa Monica Blvd from today’s traffic-congested barrier blocking access to the rest of the city, to a complete street that will enhance livability for residents and encourage the tourism local businesses depend on.
Best of all, next year’s planned reconstruction of the boulevard provides a rare opportunity to implement bike lanes at virtually no additional cost, saving future generations the cost of adding them later to correct your mistake if you fail to vote in favor of them tonight.
In fact, a vote in favor of bike lanes creates a unique opportunity in which everyone benefits — motorists and residents, tourists and businesses owners. As well as bike riders who want to pass through the city, and those who want to stop and frequent the city’s many shops and cafés.
I urge you to do the right thing. And cast your vote tonight for a better, safer and more livable future for everyone who lives, visits or passes through Beverly Hills.
Yesterday’s meeting of the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee head-scratchingly yawned otherwise, as a car dealer and seemingly confused councilmember teamed to throw a monkey wrench into plans for cycle tracks on South Figueroa.
The long-planned and bid-ready My Figueroa has been delayed, perhaps fatally, by the owner of the Felix Chevrolet group of car dealerships, who inexplicably claims to support the project while simultaneously threatening to sue to stop it.
And let’s not forget a little bike hate from Hollywood thrown in for good measure, which wants to keep parking their trucks on the street instead of paying for parking like every other Angeleno. Evidently, they’re not satisfied with merely watering down our formerly effective Spring Street green bike lanes, and won’t stop until they’ve turned the entire city into their exclusive back lot.
Unfortunately, Rosendahl has retired. And no one, as yet, has stepped up to claim his mantle in fighting for the rights and safety of LA cyclists on the city council.
The vacuum that exists at the top of the LADOT flowchart means no one there will take on the fight, as the mayor continues to drag his feet on appointing a permanent leader for the department, and prime candidates like New York’s Janette Sadik Khan and Chicago’s Gabe Klein move on to less problematic pastures.
Meanwhile, the mayor himself has yet to publicly take a stand in support of bicycling, other than to sign on to the city’s application to the Green Lane Project — which could be jeopardized by the turmoil over My Figueroa.
Meanwhile, newly elected Councilmember Gil Cedillo has inexplicably halted all progress on shovel-ready bike lanes on North Figueroa that he previously supported, apparently in a fit of pique directed at his predecessor.
The only action taken by the committee on Tuesday was to ask city staff to study the issues they’ve already studied, using money that has already been spent.
And to report back in 30 days to explain why they recommend what they’ve already recommended.
Maybe it will be enough political Kabuki theater to suggest to opponents that the council members really did consider their objections before going forward with what they should have gone forward with anyway.
Or maybe Koretz, LaBonge and Cedillo will step up and battle for bike lanes, as long as they’re not in their own districts.
And maybe that bacon I had earlier in the week will reconstitute into its original porcine form and aviate out of my ass.
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In a major display of sub-human greed, a pair of lowlife schmucks have stolen a custom-made tandem e-bike from a severely autistic 12-year old girl.
The bike has a raised seat back and seatbelt that allows the girl, a double transplant recipient, to ride a bike, which would otherwise be impossible for her. And which render the bike pretty much useless for anyone else.
It was stolen November 30th at 2:32 am from a home in the 4200 block of Marina City Drive in Marina del Rey. Surveillance video shows two men — if you can call them that — carrying the bike over a locked gate at the Marina City Club condo complex.
Chances are, after two months, the bike — which was donated by the Make-A-Wish Foundation — has long been stripped and sold as parts. But the jerks who stole it are still around somewhere, and need to be taken off the streets.
For a very long time.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Sheriff’s Detective Keysha Gipson at the Marina del Rey Sheriff’s Station, 310-482-6022.
Evidently, all those cars streaming in and out of the city have no effect on traffic. Or livability, for that matter.
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Britain’s advertising authority bans a Scottish bike safety commercial because 1) it features a cyclist riding without a helmet, and 2) the rider doesn’t cling dangerously to the gutter in an attempt to ride as far right as possible.
Note: As Nik points out, that should be “ride as far left as possible.”
Update: In the face of massive blowback, the ruling on road positioning has been suspended; the ruling on helmet use appears to remain in force, even though helmets are not required in the UK.
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Finally, Bangkok closes key intersections to become the Copenhagen of the east, even if bikes can hide bombs; thanks to Vanessa Gray for the link.
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Thanks to Erik Griswold for his generous donation to help support this site; contributions of any amount are deeply appreciated.
I hoist the Giro trophy, and enjoy the affections of the lovely podium girl.
Call off the search dogs.
I’m still here.
My sled-dog mushing, Iditarod-running brother came in from Alaska on Thursday for his first visit in far too many years.
Actually, he sold his dog team earlier this year, and has taken up bicycling, with plans to ride across the country. Or at least the Yukon.
Evidently, the biking bug is contagious.
Or maybe it just runs in the family.
While I had planned on updating the blog over the weekend, I found myself instead running all over LA. And collapsing in exhaustion at the end of each day.
So my apologies.
I’ll try to catch up later today, or tonight, anyway.
Meanwhile, we did manage to catch the somewhat underwhelming Expo for Sunday’s Beverly Hills Gran Fondo, where I managed to finally lift the trophy for the Giro D’Italia.
Without the inconvenience of actually having to ride the race. Or win it, for that matter.
Meanwhile, I had my first chance to ride the new 7th Street bike lanes in Downtown LA Wednesday night. While I was disappointed that only a small portion of the lanes had been painted up to that point, it was nice to get a taste of the taming that is come on one of the most dangerously unruly streets I ride on a semi-regular basis.
And LADOT promises the rest should be in place the next time I ride that way.
Ran into a pleasant surprise on Monday’s ride. Or over it, more precisely.
I’ve been watching the repaving of eastbound San Vicente Blvd in Brentwood the last few weeks, anticipating the smooth asphalt and newly repainted bike lane that greeted me on my ride back from the South Bay.
What I wasn’t expecting was the new pavement I discovered when I left the Marina bike path on Washington Blvd, extending from Oxford on the west to Lincoln on the east. However, the real surprise was the virtually virginal new bike lane extending the whole way on both sides.
This on a street I ride on a regular basis, making my way a few blocks from the bike path to Abbot Kinney, as in the video below. And one where there was room to ride between the door zone and the traffic lane to the left — but which left me feeling at the mercy of speeding and/or drivers not content to share a lane that waas nearly wide enough for two cars.
Granted, I only rode it a short distance.
But for the first time ever, I didn’t feel like I had to fight for my space on the road. And riding on Washington felt, well, wonderful.
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The results are in on last week’s prematurely called community to discuss the results of the Rowena road diet and bike lanes, just 90 days after they were installed.
Despite the usual bike hate — some from the usual quarters — word from Councilmember Tom LaBonge’s office is the road diet is here to stay, though it may see some “improvements.”
As long as he doesn’t try to improve it like he did on Spring Street, where LaBonge helped lead the Hollywood attack on the green bike lanes.
Thanks to Patrick for the heads-up.
Update: Velobakery offers a great recap of the Rowena meeting — including the observation that only one person spoke out against bike riders, despite what the other stories might have implied. Thanks to grrlyrida for the link.
Update 2: I’ve received a new PDF from CM LaBonge’s office correcting his position on crosswalks with flashing lights, and replaced the link at the top of this section with the new PDF.
Meanwhile, things may be changing in Pasadena in the wake of the recent death of Phillip O’Neill. Boyonabike reports that a new coalition has been formed to push the city to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians, and work for complete streets.
Pasadena is already one of the area’s most livable cities. Except when it comes to its streets.
If they’re smart enough to listen to the people who live and work there, it could be, as he says, the next great walkable, bikeable sity in SoCal.
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If you haven’t read it yet, stop what you’re doing and read this viral blog advice to motorists, You’re Going to Kill Someone.
So when I saw temporary no parkings signs on Burton Way on my way to CicLAvia on Sunday, I assumed something was in the works.
Since a meeting of the LACBC’s Civic Engagement committee meant I had to ride through Beverly Hills on my way to Downtown LA Tuesday evening, I made a point of taking Burton Way just to check it out.
And sure enough, as soon as I passed Rexford Drive, after surviving the relative terror that is Little Santa Monica at rush hour, there it was. A sparking, capacious new bike lane — so new, in fact, that other riders were taking to the sidewalk in apparent disbelief of what was right there on the street in front of them.
And who could blame them?
Beverly Hills had long earned its moniker as the Biking Black Hole for being the only city in the area without a single inch of bikeway.
Until today.
Maybe we should call them the Biking Grey Hole now. Especially since the new lanes, along with bike lanes and sharrows due to go in on Crescent Drive, are only being installed on a one-year trial basis.
Still, the lanes felt good, more than wide enough to ride two abreast. And the eastbound lanes connected with the lanes on the Los Angeles section of the street, allowing a smooth, comfortable ride from Rexford to San Vicente.
With the slight downhill, I found myself easily riding at 29 mph; previously, I would have held my speed down for fear of traffic conflicts.
Although I might question the placement of sharrows where the bike lanes end to allow right turn lanes on some of the major streets. While they are placed according to standards in the center of the right through lane, few cyclists are likely to ride there, as there is more than enough room to ride next to vehicular traffic in the few feet before the traffic light.
Looking back at Beverly Hills City Hall, which suddenly looks just a little bike-friendlier.
At least, that’s where I rode, since stopped traffic blocked access to the center of the lane, anyway.
On the ride home, the westbound lanes skipped a block between where the L.A. lanes end just at Doheny, and the Beverly Hills lanes picked up a block later.
After all this time, it seems like a minor miracle that Beverly Hills finally has bike lanes. And maybe a warning sign of the apocalypse.
And of course, they installed bike lanes on one of the streets in Beverly Hills that doesn’t need them, since it was more than wide enough to ride outside of the traffic lane as it was.
But still. They’re actually here.
We all owe a round of thanks to Mark Elliot of Better Bike, who has been leading an almost single-handed, and finally successful. fight for cyclists in the Biking Grey Hole.
