Bicycling in the City of Angels can take flight with today's expected approval of the 2010 Bicycle Plan for the City of Los Angeles.
The plan seeks to expand the city's network of bikeways to 1,680 miles at the rate of 200 miles every five years. The city currently has about 280 miles of disconnected bike lanes and paths on the ground.
The emphasis for the first five years will be to close gaps in the existing system, serve lower income and under-served communities and open bike lanes on major arteries such as Figueroa Street and Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards.
Changing attitudes
The Los Angeles Times credits vocal bicycle advocates and two high profile bicycle “accidents” for the changing attitude that brought improvements to the plan.
The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition is among the groups that criticized a draft bicycle master plan in 2009 because it didn't go far enough to serve bicyclists. The coalition helped rally hundreds of cyclists to attend meetings and lobby city councilmen for something better.
That draft plan was released about a year after a physician in Brentwood slammed on his brakes in front of a group of bicyclists, causing injuries to two of them. Hardly an “accident,” the doctor was later convicted of assault with a deadly weapon.
Then last summer, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa crashed his bicycle and hit his head on the pavement to avoid being right-hooked by a taxicab. That sparked his advocacy for the bicycling community and his support of a better bicycle master plan.
Awakening
City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, whose district includes Brentwood, told the Los Angeles Times:
“There has been a real awakening in the city. We're starting to think of our streets differently. They're not just conduits for making cars move fast.”
In addition to more miles of bicycle routes, the plan includes improvements to safety, enforcement and education, including a city-sponsored bike to work week.
Funding
Money to pay for the improvements comes from proceeds of a sales tax approved by voters in 2008 to pay for transportation improvements; 10% of that tax revenue has been set aside for bicycle and pedestrian facilities.
The plan designates 1,332 miles of Citywide and Neighborhood bikeway networks. Also, some so-called “bicycle-friendly streets” will be designated to cater toward bicycle riders who are more comfortable on streets with less traffic.
Check the official website of the Los Angeles Bicycle Plan Update for the latest information and links to the draft reports. Here's the link for the five-year map.
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