Bicycling

On Earth Day this past Sunday, the Expo Line Phase II Bicycle Advisory Committee, of which I am a member, was given a tour of the Expo corridor and bikeway proposals with a few of the private consultants and public planners involved in the project. Looking at diagrams is never a sufficient replacement for some on the ground perspective, so I was glad we had this opportunity to scope everything out. It was also exciting to see a few testing trains in operation in preparation for tomorrow's opening.  I had not had a chance to get out and see the trains in action previously.

The city of Santa Monica is hosting a grand opening opening of what is being called the Santa Monica Bike Campus this Sunday as part of April 22nd Earth Day activities. This bike campus facility is on a linear strip of what was no longer actively used roadway connecting to parking lots just east of the beach bike path at Ocean Park Boulevard. The pavement is now painted with various markings for teaching bike education classes. There are simulated lanes, sharrows, crosswalks and bike lanes for teaching lane positioning, as well as some designs for bike handling tests that are part of the League of American Bicycling’s “Smart Cycling” course material.

Dream It.  Design It. Do It.

(Friends of Susana's have set up a ChipIn account to collect funds to help with medical bills.  You can donate, here.)

Earlier today, AEG announced the completion of the first draft of environmental documents for Farmers Field, the proposed football stadium for Downtown Los Angeles.  The document, available on City Planning's website, is a mammoth 10,000 pages and the ceremonial handing over of the documents to the city at today's event involved 13 overflowing three ring binders.

Although a few state parks will close on July 1, Shuntain Thomas, the Real Rydaz, and We Are Responsible People (WARP) want you to know that the streets of South Los Angeles will be open for riding.

Over the weekend, Bike Commute News' Joe Anthony snapped this picture of brand new bike detectors for intersections on 4th Street between Mid-Town and Downtown Los Angeles. 4th Street has long been an important corridor for cyclists seeking to access Downtown Los Angeles from points west, but local opposition has stalled some of the more progressive treatments LADOT planned for the road. While negotiations between activists, LADOT and neighborhood groups continue, some features continue to be brought to the "4th Street Bike Boulevard."

A new series of D.I.Y. signage is popping up around the Westside.  The new "except bikes" signs remind road users that the street side parking restrictions don't apply to sidewalk parking for cyclists.  It's not just a thumb in the eyes to drivers, but a reminder that if you choose to leave the car at home, the Westside's notorious "parking problems" all of a sudden don't seem so pressing.