LADOT

Bike Lanes are one of the most misunderstood elements of bikeways engineering, responsible for much confusion as they lie nestled peacefully between the noisy travel lane to the left and the quiet but dangerous door zone to the right.

Earlier today, Hillie Talens, a Dutch Bicycle Engineer, kicked off the two-day "Think Bike" planning workshop in Downtown Los Angeles with an interesting presentation at City Hall. The bicycle planners, which are different than traditional transportation planners who are focused on the automobile, will lead three groups in redesign exercises for Van Nuys Boulevard in the Valley, Jefferson Boulevard in South L.A., and parts of Downtown Los Angeles. The innovative program is sponsored by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and the LADOT.

Tomorrow night, the Venice Neighborhood Council will debate, and possibly approve or reject a proposal by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to remove travel lanes on Main Street in Venice in an effort to calm traffic and create space for bike lanes.

Yesterday, we featured a headline by our Joe Linton that pretty harshly criticized an LADOT Bike Blog posting from Monday about the LADOT's committment to increasing the number of Sharrows on L.A.'s streets.  We summarized Linton's post into a couple of questions and sent them on to the LADOT to get some clarification.  After all, the city is promising 20 miles of Sharrowed streets to be completed in the next year...what could be wrong with that?

Earlier this year, when the designs for South Figueroa's My Figueroa project were released, Josef Bray-Ali wasn't happy.  While many advocates celebrated designs that would, if implemented, result in segregated bike paths, transit-only lanes, pedestrian plazas (at a minimum), Bray-Ali saw another major investment in the Downtown and area around L.A. Live. Meanwhile, the portion of Figueroa where he worked and that he loved remained a traffic sewer, with five lanes of concrete and curbside parking blighting the area.

Yesterday, the LADOT and City Planning made their quarterly update to the City Council on the progress of the implementation of the Bike Plan.  The Council's Transportation Committee also moved a motion that would transfer $475,000 to LADOT's overtime account.  Between the somewhat confounding report offered by the agencies and the revelation that bike projects have to be built on overtime, it's no surprise that some advocates are anxious.

Alert reader Joe Dunavan alerts that new bike lanes have appeared on Woodley Avenue heading south.  The pictured section is just south of the Van Nuys Flyaway.  These lanes-in-waiting will run for a half mile from Saticoy Street to Sherman Way, roughly a half mile.  They connect to existing bike lanes to the north on Woodley Avenue.

Crumbling sidewalks and intersections without curb cuts are a common problem in L.A., but they're a lot more noticeable when you're moving with wheels.  Whether it's pushing a baby stroller, or doing some sidewalk bicycle riding, the lack of curb cuts is suddenly a major issue.  While its a minor inconvenience to someone who is healthy and pushing wheels by choice, people who suffer from some physical ailment can find the lack of a curb cut to be as daunting a barrier as a moat filled with crocodiles.

Our question and answer session with LAPD Sgt. David Krumer went so well, that we decided to do it again.  This time, incoming LADOT General Manager Jaime De La Vega has agreed to answer ten questions (the same number Krumer answered) submitted by Streetsblog readers.