Bike Master Plan

(Update, July 7: Jane Choi from the Planning Department called me to inform me that the "40 miles per year" goal didn't start until July 1, 2011, the start of the fiscal year.  While it seems an odd date to start an implementation plan for the 2010 Bike Plan, it is the start of the first fiscal year after the Mayor promised cyclists "40 miles per year."  Regardless, this means the clock is ticking.  L.A., you have 358 days to provide 40 new miles of bike facilities. - DN)

Yesterday the LADOT announced through the LADOT Bike Blog that a series of projects outlined in the Bike Plan would undergo a full environmental review before construction of these projects can begin construction.  Between conversations with City Planning and LADOT, we have a good idea of how the environmental review will go forward.  City staff is concerned about lawsuits brought against projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA.)  CEQA lawsuits had delayed the implementation of the San Francisco Bike Plan for four years and continues to stall the Expo Line Bike Path.

(This is the first of a two-part series.  The second piece will look at some of the local maps and provide a more local review. - DN)

Today, we approved a Bike Plan which provides more opportunities for people in Los Angeles.

It's all over but the signing.  And that's scheduled for tomorrow.

At 10:00 A.M. today, the City Council will meet to, amongst other things, vote on final passage of the Bike Plan.  Gone is the word "Master" as in Bike Master Plan.  Gone is the word "Draft" as in "Draft Bike Plan." We're so close to the finish line that even the Los Angeles Times is calling for a victory lap.

In November, the commission's hearing was contentious and drawn-out, resulting in a vote to continue the plan, essentially sending it back to Planning Department for revisions. Yesterday's hearing saw near-unanimous harmony between the bicycle advocacy community and the city staff backing the plan. Michael LoGrande and Amir Sedadi, respectively the General Manager of the Department of City Planning and the Acting General Manager of the Department of Transportation, opened the hearing praising city efforts toward greener transportation and the stressing the importance of bicycling in that mix. Commissioners and staff related that the month's continuance had been productive, greatly improving the earlier draft in a number of important aspects. Those changes have been enumerated here and here in earlier L.A. Streetsblog articles as well as in this Bike Coalition aritcle.

I've been following the debate over the newest Draft Bike Plan at the City Planning Commission this morning on twitter, and the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition just announced that the Commission passed the plan.  You can get details of the hearing by clicking here and reading the tweets from Joe Linton and the LACBC.