Protected bike lanes are a central feature of Rosemead Boulevard’s Complete Streets initiative; the county built protected bike lanes on Rosemead alongside the Whittier Narrows earlier this year, and in 2014 Temple City protected cyclists along its entire stretch of Rosemead.
Now Caltrans District 7 is presenting three concepts for repaving Rosemead in South El Monte between Garvey Avenue and Rush Street, and asking San Gabriel Valley locals to weigh in on the best configuration for bike lanes via a survey.
Besides questions about usage of Rosemead in the project area, the survey proffers three options for restriping the street:
- Existing Conditions: Keep it the same. Don’t add bike lanes. Preserve the 18-foot raised concrete median, 12-foot travel lanes, and 8-foot parking lanes.
- Design Alternative 1: Shrink the median to 12-feet and the travel lanes to 11-feet to accommodate 6-foot unprotected bike lanes to the left of the driver’s side door zone of the parking lane.
- Design Alternative 2: Lose the parking, keep the travel lanes and median as they are, and create 5-foot protected bike lanes, with barriers (apparently plastic posts) in a 3-foot buffer strip.
Cyclists are likely to support Design Alternative 2, which would protect them from getting ‘doored.’ (Though many cyclists would probably prefer Caltrans go even further with some sort of concrete curb protection, preferably coupled with some landscaping - perhaps similar to parts of the Temple City bikeway.)
Protected bike lanes from Rush to Garvey would mean relatively high quality bike infrastructure from the bottom of South El Monte to the top of Temple City. The only substantial part of the roadway that would be unprotected for cyclists would be from Garvey to Lower Azusa Road (roughly), the area around the 10 Freeway.
However, some business operators along this stretch may oppose the design, as parking lots are somewhat small at the auto body shops and cafes along this stretch of Rosemead, and a few locations lack any off-street parking.
In addition to the bike lane concepts being considered, the project will include repairs to the pavement, additional traffic signals at Klingerman Street and Fern Street, and upgraded curb ramps and crosswalks.
Besides the survey online, the public can provide input at an in-person meeting on Wednesday September 25 from 6-7 p.m. at the Jeff Seymour Family Center (ActiveSGV’s offices) at 10900 Mulhall Street in El Monte.
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