Anyone excited to see a calmer, safer Colorado Boulevard there’s some good news for you:
As Los Angeles is in the process of implementing its Bike Plan, the city holds quarterly meetings to discuss bicycle facilities, which streets to prioritize for bicycle facilities, education, outreach and more. These meetings are called the ‘Bike Plan Implementation Team’ or BPIT. These meetings are open to the public and the most recent meeting was on October 4th. At this recent meeting Colorado Boulevard was discussed (from LADOT Bike Blog)
Paul Habib with CD 14, announced that the Eagle Rock community is openly seeking a road diet for Colorado Blvd. Through their “Take Back the Boulevard Initiative,” residents hope to:
…make this central corridor through Eagle Rock a safe, sustainable, and vibrant street in order to stimulate economic growth, increase public safety, and enhance economic growth, increase public safety, and enhance community pride and wellness.
Unfortunately, removal of a travel lane for this corridor will very likely have a significant impact on auto traffic, triggering the need to conduct environmental review and roadway reclassification, prior to implementation. However, thanks to the BPIT process, these three miles of Colorado Blvd between Lincoln Ave. and the Glendale City limit have now been added to the Priority 1 environmental package. This means that Eagle Rock residents will be able to lobby their elected City leaders for a safer, more sustainable Colorado Blvd. sooner, rather than later. If successful, this project could set a precedent for the region as an example of vehicle travel lane removal to allow for increased safety and mobility for bicycles and pedestrians.
What does this mean exactly? Well bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard weren’t slated to be implemented until 2015 according to the LA Bike Plan. However, thanks to the Take Back The Boulevard momentum, a receptive council member representing us, and open meetings Colorado Boulevard has been moved to Priority 1 environmental package meaning that the street will be studied and likely see a bike lane sooner than originally planned.
And speaking of Take Back The Boulevard, the initiative is asking us what we like, what we don’t like, and what we would like to see come to Colorado Boulevard in a survey linked to on the initiative’s website. Click here to access the survey. The survey represents an opportunity to give input on this community project and I encourage you to spend a thoughtful 5 minutes to fill it out.
And if you would like to make Glendale, our neighboring city, a safer place to cycle the city is currently updating its Bike Plan and is accepting public comments. If you have the time, check out what the city has planned and make a few suggestions about how bicycling can be made more pleasant. Click here to access Glendale’s Bike Plan and make comments.
Also in more safe streets Eagle Rock related news, the excellent Eagle Rock based blog Zone 23 makes a sound case to ‘Take Back Yosemite Drive, Too’. In the ‘early’ days of Walk Eagle Rock I addressed Yosemite Drive in two separate post, if interested here are the posts I made– part 1 and part 2.
One more note about Glendale bicycling– the other day I cam across a rather interesting video that taught children how to ‘drive’ their bikes in the 1950′s. The video was filmed in Glendale, take a look below
Lastly, this is now old news but this LA Times article, ‘A Walk on the Risky Side‘ is a stark reminder of who pays the price of negligent driving and dangerous road design on our streets. It is my belief that a civilized society is one where a child should be able to walk to school safely without worry of getting hit by a car. Let’s reclaim the streets, make them safe and liveable for everyone, especially children going to school– this is about more than ‘bikes vs cars’, it’s about providing safe mobility for all ages and all modes of travel.
who are you???
See ‘About’, I’m just an Eagle Rocker who loves the community, wants safe streets, and lives optimistically.
SEVIE,
I AM IMPRESSED WITH THE CALIBER, DEPTH AND INSIGHT OF YOUR WORK. I COMMEND YOU FOR THE TIME YOU DEVOTE TO THIS MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT/ACTIVITY AND STILL KEEP UP WITH YOUR STUDIES. I KNOW OF MANY SENIOR CITIZENS WHO WOULD PREFER TO RIDE BICYCLES BUT FEEL THE STREETS ARE NOT SAFE FOR THEM TO DO SO. I AM ONE OF THOSE SENIORS. LOCAL AND FEDERAL OFFICIALS OFTEN SPEAK OF THE NEED TO GET SENIORS INVOLVED IN CARDIO TYPE OF ACTIVITIES AND CYCLING WOULD BE PERFECT. BUDGETS ARE TIGHT BUT WHEN ONE THINKS OF THE VAST AMOUNTS OF MONEY THAT GO INTO HEALTH CARE FOR SENIORS WHO SUFFER FROM HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, DIABETES, ARTHRITIS, BEING OVERWEIGHT AND THEN TAKE SUCH EXPENSIVE DRUGS TO HELP, HOW MUCH BETTER AND COST EFFECTIVE IT WOULD BE TO REDUCE THOSE ILLNESSES THROUGH EXERCISE SUCH AS CYCLING RATHER THAN SPENDING MILLIONS/BILLIONS ON MEDICATIONS WITH KILLER SIDE EFFECTS. UNFORTUNATELY OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS DON’T THINK THAT WAY. THEY WOULD RATHER THROW BILLIONS OF $$$ TO THE DRUG COMPANIES AS A SOLUTION–A VERY COSTLY ONE. HOW MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE IT WOULD BE TO BUILD SAFE STREETS AND FURNISH SENIORS WITH BICYCLES AND PROGRAMS TO TEACH THEM ABOUT SAFE RIDING. I AM AFRAID SUCH A PROGRAM, WHILE FAR LESS COSTLY THAN DRUG PROGRAMS, WOULD BE CONSIDERED SOCIALISTIC.
KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT