Today’s Headlines

  • L.A.’s Crumbling Infrastructure (NYT)
  • Carnage: Don’t Stand on a Freeway Shoulder, 1 Killed, 4 Injured on 5 Freeway in Castaic (LAT)
    Jogger Critically Injured on PCH in Malibu, Sheriffs Mis-Identify Nonexistent Bike Lane (Malibu Times)
  • Amended Uber, Lyft Insurance Bill A.B. 2293 Passes Legislature (LAT) 
  • Sad Empty SFV L.A. River Bike Path Photos (LA Register, The Source)
    What We Saw on the LAR Path at Last Week’s Opening: Riders Enjoying It (Post-Periodical)
  • Metrolink Ridership Generally Down, Other Than OC Line (Lets Go LA)
  • Basics of Navigating L.A. With No Car (Conde Nast Traveler)
  • Cracking Down on Restaurant Trash Thieves Scavenging Oil for Bio-Diesel (LA Register)
  • Express Park A Success – Revenue Up, Average Price Down (Downtown News)
  • The Problems With Putting Rail in Freeway Medians (Pedestrian Observations)
  • First Big Blue Bus Stops To Show Real Time Arrival Info (Santa Monica Next)
  • Americans Don’t Walk Much These Days (HuffPo)
  • An Uptick in Overall Vehicle Miles Traveled Nationwide (Planetizen)
    Doesn’t Mean Much When Measured Per-Capita (Better Institutions)

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  • Dennis_Hindman

    There is far more spending on bikeways per capita in the less populated areas in the city of Los Angeles than in the most densely populated areas.

    The half mile section of bike path that just opened along the LA river in the community of Winnetka cost $6.75 million. That’s $13.5 million a mile for a population density that is ranked 100th in the county according to the LA Times:

    http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/population/density/neighborhood/list/

    This section of bike path along the LA river is no more than 3/4 of a mile away from another path than runs next to the Orange Line and there is a bike lane installed on Winnetka Ave.

    The 9,826 population per square mile in Winnetka is dwarfed by the 42,611 population per square mile in Koreatown–which is the most densely populated community in Los Angeles county. For the same per capita spending on a bikeway in Koreatown compared to this bike path along the LA river in Winnetka, the city would need to spend $58.54 million a mile and that doesn’t include the money spent on the Orange Line path in Winnetka.

    Koreatown has about a mile of bike lane and a few miles of sharrows. Why so few higher priced bikeways compared to Winnetka? Simple, Koreatown is a much more densely populated area of the city which has less unused space available for bikeways.

    To greatly increase the likelihood that a politician or community stakeholders will support bike path or cycle track installations along congested street corridors in the more densely populated areas of Los Angeles, the projects need to be “big, bold, capture people’s imagination” as Brian Payne states about the Indianapolis Cultural Trail at the 1:20 mark in this Streetsfilm:

    http://www.streetfilms.org/the-indianapolis-cultural-trail/