L.A. County Finishes Bike Master Plan – Hearing Scheduled on November 16

8:38 AM PDT on October 18, 2011

The Beach Bike Path is one of the most famous existing L.A. County bike facilities. Photo:##http://bikinginla.wordpress.com/tag/george-wolfberg/##Biking in L.A.##

It's been awhile since Los Angeles County has taken a serioous look at bikeways and bike planning. The newly completed Bike Master Plan (BMP) for L.A. County Working will replace the County's 1975 Plan of Bikeways. By my count, that's 37 years of working off the same plan. You could say that a lot has changed since 1975, or I could just say that I wasn't born yet when the plan was passed.

And I'm no Spring Chicken.

The new BMP proposes a much expanded network on county controlled land including unincorporated areas such as Marina del Rey and the land along various rivers, creeks, and flood control facilities. While advocates are just beginning to delve into the plan, previous versions have come under heavy scrutiny for being too vague in areas and not proposing enough bicycle lanes, bicycle boulevards (still called bike friendly streets for some reason), and Sharrowed Streets. Another complaint was that the plan assumes car travel lane widths of 12 feet in many areas instead of exploring shrinking the lanes to make more space for cyclists.

While advocates are combing through the Final Plan, the Los Angeles County Bike Coalitions is hoping people will take the time to comment on the environmental documents to County staff and to the L.A. County Supervisors.

" The big thing is just making sure folks, specially folks in unincorporated communities, know that the plan is out there and they should comment and contact the Planning Commission and County Supervisors about the bad and good of the plan," wrote Alexis Lantz, the Policy and Planning Director for the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.

The County has scheduled a November 16 public hearing on the plan. To get details on the plan, how to comment, or the public hearing, visit the County's website by clicking here. When L.A. County completes its 2035 County General Plan, which will guide development and spending for the next 23 years, will include this plan. We've also got a full list of plan chapters with the relevant links after the jump.