Eyes on the Street: the Ongoing Humiliation of the Spring Street Bike Lanes

Just another Sunday on Spring Street. Photo: ##https://twitter.com/Waltarrrrr/status/381875248389320704/photo/1##Waltarrr/twitter##

As we reported last week, the dangerousification of Spring Street is in full swing these days. With the City Council mandated water blasting of the Green Buffered Bike Lane completed, advocates wait for the city to install its completely untested, but less expensive, new paint design.

But while we wait for the city to make good its pledge, the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane has actually become one of the more dangerous places in the city to bicycle.

Anecdotally, cyclists have complained that the lane is rough, gravelly in places, because of the water blasting. A city employee, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, recounted via email that a driver cut him off. When he complained was told by the person behind the wheel that the city removed the bike lane.

And of course, the Green Buffered Bike Lane is now being used as a parking lane as shown in the pictures to the right. After all, if the city doesn’t respect the lane, despite its safety and economic benefits, why should anyone else?

If anyone wants to thank city leadership for their role in helping L.A. become the first city in the country to un-paint a green bike lane, or maybe encourage them to get serious about putting down the unproven design they approved, contact the Film and Television Industry’s City Council Member and Mayor at tom.labonge@lacity.org and mayor.garcetti@lacity.org.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Eyes on the Street…L.A.’s First Protected Bike Lane

|
Last night, Los Angeles got its first protected bike lane last night when a series of plastic dividers went up in the Second Street Tunnel between Figueroa and Hill Street. Currently, the physical separators are only up in the tunnel despite bike lanes existing on either side. In total, the bike lanes extend from North Spring […]

Eyes on the Street: Goodbye Green

|
At the request of the City Council, the city was hard at work last night making Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles a less safe and attractive place to be by removing the green paint in the city’s first green buffered bike lane. The buffered bike lane will remain, with the city testing a new, […]

Add a Green Buffered Bike Lane and Number of Cyclists Explode

|
Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition released “2011 City of Los Angeles Bicycle & Pedestrian Count Report” and a separate study on bicycling on Spring Street in the Green Buffered Bike Lane.  The result?  Cycling in the city is on the upswing, as positive press, CicLAvia and new infrastructure are encouraging more people to […]