You are welcome. And now some news: I will be coming to L.A. for at least three or four days right around Halloween, so I'll be looking to shoot at least two quick Streetfilms. Hopefully I'll get to meet a few of you!

As Brayj points out, and I certainly can't put it any better than "L.A. has an orgy of space in the right of way", any and all creative solutions when it comes to supporting cycling in Los Angeles should be explored and pushed for. Certainly I too have ridden against the flow of traffic and as Bike Girl points out there are already plenty of spaces where people do this already because it is easier (whether it is safer is debatable...)

I believe that LA suffers from an extremely slow moving bureaucratic process that delays most of the bikeway improvements (not to mention all transit improvements), but one thing we certainly do NOT lack is space.
There are lots of sunny wide boulevards out there, already being put to good use by cyclists every day.

As for a road for contra flow in LA: How about some of the streets downtown? Figueroa, Hill, Main, Spring etc... perhaps a network of contra-flow lanes downtown would in fact, be in order!

Thanks for another excellent Streetfilm Clarence!

This contra flow lane is completely cut off from the flow of "normal" traffic, so what basic rules of the road is this violating?

Also, regarding space for bike lanes - I'm not sure what your perception is based on. L.A. has an orgy of space in the right of way. Our minor streets are easily wider than most arterials in other parts of the country/world.

It would appear, from the film above, that a properly designed contra flow lane can be a great success.

Generally speaking, I think it is a bad idea to create bicycle infrastructure that has cyclists traveling in a way that contradicts the basic rules of the road. Contra-flow lanes might be useful in a few specific places, but L.A. has very little space for dedicated bike lanes, and a vast area that needs to become more bike-accessible. I think it would be much more useful here to employ an extensive network of safe shared-lane streets that have consistent signage and markings, rather than a few short, limited-use special facilities.

Also, I'm wondering how exactly a contra-flow lane is re-integrated with normal-flow traffic. I can't imagine it's pretty.

In L.A., our city government is designed to be quite detached from the majority of the people's self interests. Something as functional and attractive as this could only happen with political will and a sure-thing project area.

Actually while I was in Boulder for an entire week, I think I saw a couple of cyclists ride the wrong way on the sidewalk - maybe three or four - and that was it as far as rule breakers. Almost everybody obeyed the law. I don't think you should be torn, in the greatest cycling cities, communities are trying to placate cycling behavior when it makes sense.

If the majority of cyclists are behaving incorrectly there, then perhaps that is a place the city needs to look into putting a contra flow lane in. I will not defend their behavior, but if the option for cyclists there brings them well out of their way to do the same movement legally, the city should take a look at it.

I think it's super dangerous though and think these type of bike lanes encourage people to ride the wrong way, which is already a big problem in L.A. So, I'm torn