Photo: Drew Reed/LA LoyalistA month ago, I had a few ideas
about how Long Beach could go about improving its budding network of
numbered bikeways. As it turned out, a few of the suggestions I made
are slowly beginning to appear on the street lights and signposts of
Long Beach. Is this a happy coincidence, or has the City of Long Beach drawn some inspiration from the pages of Streetsblog?
No
matter why they're here, the newer signs include more frequent use of
arrows to indicate where a route goes or junctions with another route,
as well as a few new signs indicating actual destinations. Though most
of the bikeway signs remain as a simple logo and number, the new arrow
or destination signs are certainly helpful. Well, except for when the
signs are incorrect. For instance, the sign at Atherton and Palo Verde
(pictured above) claims to lead riders to "Bellflower", yet following
the route takes you to neither Bellflower Blvd. nor the city of
Bellflower. Oops! Maybe if they flipped the arrow, the sign would be
more accurate.
In many cases, the routes seem to have been selected to coincide
with roads that either have adequate bike lanes or ample space for
bikes. But there are a few notable exceptions. Peter Dopulos, in his
continuing quest to ride every numbered route in Long Beach, points out
that riding over the southern end of the Orange Ave./Route 17 path can
be quite unpleasant at times. But by far the worst is Route 1, which follows PCH through the infamous Traffic Circle.
If the bike routes could be coupled with comprehensive road
improvements, they would become even more effective. It would be a
difficult thing to do, but now that LB's decision makers are reading
Streetsblog, at least there's hope.
