Today’s Headlines

  • Editorial: Unions to Blame for Slow Pace of CEQA Reform (Daily News)
  • Even as CEQA Blasted For Delaying Wonderful Emerald Necklace Plan in SGV (SGV Trib, Star-News)
  • Christine Dahab Pleads Guilty, Faces Jail Time (Biking In L.A.)
  • Merge Building and Planning Departments, Some Officials Say It Could be Villaraigosa’s Swan Song (Downtown News)
  • Thank Goodness Someone Has Done Something About Charming, Harmless St. Vincent’s (LAT)
  • High Speed Rail Dolls Out $50 Million in Contracts (ABC 7)
  • While Gov. Brown Visits One of the More Successful Lines in China (SacBee)
  • PATCH’s Turn to Create L.A. County Dangerous Intersection Map
  • Artists Chosen for Phase II of Expo Line Stations (Curbed)
  • Many Renters No Longer Consider Home Ownership a Worthy Goal (LAT)
  • I’m Not Sure What to Make of this City Watch Piece on Bicycling and Sharrows
  • Not Everyone Buys Culver’s Chamber’s Presidents’ Apology to Cyclists (Biking in L.A.)
  • Daily Carnage: Big Rig Crashes on 605, Fuel Spill Closes Lanes (LAT)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

  • Anonymous

    That is an unusually rambling piece on sharrows, but if we peel away the SFR nostalgia and pot shots at hipsters, I think the basic point about sharrows is pretty sound. As someone who used to work in highway engineering, they make me uncomfortable for several reasons:
    – on major roads, they don’t provide enough protection for people to feel comfortable riding there, e.g. PCH
    – on minor roads, especially in residential areas, there’s no need to identify separate bike infrastructure
    – it gives cities a cop out, a way to provide bike routes without really providing bike routes
    – in my personal experience, I’ve never come across a situation where the decision to use sharrows was made because it was the right thing for bikes; it’s always been to preserve either parking space or road capacity
    – the availability of sharrows as a low-cost, low-conflict solution means they get implemented in places even if there’s enough room for a bike lane (I was looking at one such situation yesterday while driving, I want to say on Beverly Glen but I’m not sure)

  • ikegawataro

    Any updates on Bike Nation’s launch in LA? First it was by the end of 2012, then early 2013, then April 2013….. are they close to launching this month?

  • Erik Griswold

    The kiosk at the Anaheim trains station (adjacent to Angel Stadium) is in Beta Operation.

  • I actually just happened to ride some of the sharrows on Franklin this weekend, from Talmadge to Western. They definitely didn’t feel as comfortable as the ones on Fountain – cars seem to go a lot faster on Franklin, even though the lanes are no wider. (There are multiple lanes in some places though, and a center lane.) If the sharrows concentrate more cyclists on Franklin rather than being dispersed on surrounding streets, and this slows down car traffic, then they’ll seem like a success, but otherwise I’m not sure. (Also, the part he mentions east of Talmadge, on the Shakespeare Bridge, really does seem like a very scary place to ride for me – but I don’t know a better way from the lanes on Griffith Park Ave and Rowena to get to the west.)

  • grrlyrida

    Are you kidding with Fountain Freeway being comfortable? It is by far the worse street. I think sharrows are a waste of paint on that street. Drivers are just as rude and aggressive as ever. I ride most of the way west on another parallel street because Fountain Freeway is so dangerous.

    I rode west to Century City from Silverlake today and I was surprised by the sharrows on Willoughby from Gower to Vista. I decided it’s not just the sharrows that made that section of the street more pleasant, but the removal of parking on the north side of the street. Those are the only sharrows I’ve seen that were worth a damn.