Streetsblog Los Angeles

You know what this highway needs? More travel lanes. Photo: Big Mike Lakers/Flickr

Opponents of expanding the I-710 near Pasadena to connect the road to the I-210 received a double dose of bad news in recent weeks from both the courts and our environmental governor.  First, Governor Scwarzenegger, between lecturing his wife about safe driving, found time to veto Senator Gil Cedillo's legislation that would have required any highway expansion in this area to take the form of a tunnel.  Second, a state court ruled against the lawsuits brought by South Pasadena and La Canada Flintridge against the inclusion of funding for the I-710 expansion in Measure R.

First, let's check in with our Greenhouse Gas fighting Governor.  Senator Gil Cedillo's legislation, SB 545, would have required that any expansion of the 710 for the purpose of connecting to the I-210 would have to be below ground.  In addition to saving homes, there was a strong political reason for the legislation; it would have ended a fifty year old dispute between South Pasadena and Alhambra.  Alhambra has been one of the leading communities fighting for the expansion, hoping that the increased freeway would reduce traffic on its surface streets.  South Pasadena is one of the cities strongly opposing the project.

Despite the overwhelming local support for the legislation, the Governor vetoed the legislation saying:

This bill is unnecessary. The project development process currently being undertaken by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the appropriate vehicle to determine the scope and feasibility of a project to address the transportation needs in the I-710 corridor. This process provides ample opportunity for public involvement and input. There is absolutely no need to enact statutory restrictions that would mandate certain project design options or remove others from potential consideration.

While I'm sure Metro appreciates the vote of confidence, it should be noted that the transit agency supported SB 545 and sent representatives to Cedillo's press event celebrating the bill's passage.  Opponents and proponents of the project both viewed Schwarzenegger's veto as a bad thing.  Supporters wanted to quell the opposition of South Pasadena and opponents wanted one less thing to worry about.

Read more...

This image, via CICLE/Flickr, is from this year's Bike Week Pasadena.

Last night, the city of Pasadena hosted a public input meeting for its new bike plan. The big news at the meeting was the release of a draft map of proposed bikeway facilities. Though that map is not yet posted on-line, the city's Senior Transportation Planner Rich Dilluvio assured L.A. Streetsblog that it would be posted within a couple weeks.

The city plans to release the entire draft plan by the end of the year, at which point, it will undergo a full environmental review, so it's probably mid- to late- 2010 before implementation gets underway. The city's consultant Ryan Snyder explained the planned facilities. The more ambitious ones include bicycle boulevards... er... what they're calling "Emphasized Bikeways" (due to, elsewhere in L.A. County, past misinterpretation-fed negative reactions to the term bicycle boulevard) ... on Mountain Street east-west, and five north-south streets: Marengo Avenue, El Molino Avenue, Wilson Avenue, Sierra Bonita Avenue and Craig Street. The draft plan calls for road diets to create bike lanes on Washington Boulevard and Cordova Street. When asked about sharrows on designated bike routes, Dilluvio stated "anywhere we can put 'em down, we'll put 'em down."

Overall the draft looks good. It's not the velorucion, but completing these facilities is very doable and will be a solid step toward becoming a more bike-friendly city. Under quick review, it looks like the plan could perhaps be improved by better bicycle connections to a few popular destinations. Perhaps the bike boul... er emphasized bikeways might make better connections with Metro Gold Line Stations. Bike lanes and route on Fair Oaks should extend south to reach the popular Old Town shopping area. Maybe those would be phase 2...

Other than two waterway bike paths (on the upper Arroyo Seco near Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and on Eaton Canyon Wash upstream of the 210 Freeway) the facilities are all conventional on-street lanes and routes, so they should be implementable relatively quickly at a relatively low cost for a relatively high benefit.

On another Pasadena bike note: C.I.C.L.E. will host its Pasadena Art Ride on Friday October 9th!

Pasadena proposes turning the Rose Bowl Circle which currently has two car lanes into one that is friendlier for cyclists, pedestrians and people that want to be outside.

A couple of years ago, the City of Pasadena considered banning bicycles from what they're now calling the "Rose Bowl Recreation Loop" because of the conflict being created between cyclists and car drivers.  At the time the city sided with the drivers citing their "commutes" as more important than the cyclists and pedestrians using the loop as a public space.  Pasadena's plan was hotly debated, but eventually shelved.

What a difference two years make.  After last year's hugely popular "Car Free Rose Bowl" event, attended by just about every planner and member of the Pasadena DOT on payroll, the city decided to take a second look at their plan and the change could barely be more drastic.  Pasadena is now proposing two plans that would increase access for cyclists and pedestrians in two different plans that will be presented at a community meeting tomorrow between 5 and 7:30 p.m. at the Brookside Golf Club and Lot K.  For more information please call 626-744-4610.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Rose Bowl Circle, it's a three-mile loop around the stadium that provides access to the parking lots and a handful of local roads.  The loop is popular with recreational and racing cyclists from around the region and beyond because of the well-maintained roads, flat area and scenic and easy-to-access location.  In addition, the area is also popular with residents who use the walkway for exercise or just to spend some time outside.

Let's take a look at the three options outlined for Pasadena by their consultants at Crain & Associates.

Read more...