LADOT

Yesterday, the LADOT Bike Blog announced two new bike lane projects that were completed in the Valley this weekend.

View 2011 Metro Call for Projects - Bikeways in a larger map Google Map of Bikeways projects put together by Bikeside's Daniel Rodman

(This is Part 3 of our Call for Projects review.  Part 1 explained why this series is important.  Part 2 looked at the car capacity enhancement proposals.  Part 4 tomorrow.)

Following yesterday's article announcing a review of the LADOT's application to Metro's Call for Projects program, I got a few comments (although none in the comments section.)  People commented that not every project submitted was an LADOT one so I should give full credit, and full blame, across the spectrum.  People also noted that I was including projects reviewed but not submitted when I counted the projects from year to year.  Fair point.  From now on we'll focus just on what cleared the LADOT's review and we'll give credit and blame across the board. - DN

To get an idea of where a city's priorities are, one can look at what kinds of projects for which they seek funding.  If that person were to look at the Metro Call for Project application lists prepared by LADOT in 2009 and the one the City Council Transportation Committee will hear on Wednesday, they might believe that the LADOT has made real strides in sustainability in the last two years.

Yesterday, Carter Rubin and I were in Northeast L.A. on our way to a meeting at Occidental College and we had a chance to stop in and visit with Josef Bray-Ali st the Flying Pigeon Bike Shop (see ad on the right).  I commented that the "D.I.Y. Sharrows" that appeared along some local streets connecting the Gold Line Station with Figueroa street were finally taken up.  LADOT had promised to remove the road markings when they were put up, one year and a couple of days ago, but Bray-Ali pointed out I was wrong.  "They're still there, they're just faded."

Calls for a Road Diet on Colorado Boulevard are growing, and beginning to become too loud to ignore.  For those not familiar with the layout of the road, it currently spans six car travel lanes, provides on-street car parking, and features a seventeen foot median that occasionally features live grass.  Eagle Rock residents have been puzzled about a road configuration that is designed for many more cars than actually use it.  The result is that the traffic that does use the street, tends to drive above the speed limit.

The results are in from our Streetpoll and Streetsbloggers have narrowed the field for our "Fantasy General Manager Election."  Now it's time for the final vote between Tim Papandreou and Gil Penalosa.  Penalosa is an international figure famous for his relationship to CicLAvia.  Papandreou is more of a "local boy does well" story, even though he's currently stationed in San Francisco.  You can read more about Penalosa here, and more about Papandreou here.

I got a couple of complaints via email after Wednesday's story that with all of the effort we put in to finding the perfect candidate for the new General Manager for LADOT, we overlooked candidates from our own back yard.  Even as I type these words, a comment came in on a previous story that said of the General Manager search, "Los Angeles has one the most complex highway and street systems in the country, and an outsider who is unfamiliar with the territory would be at a disadvantage."