This past weekend, First Street in Boyle Heights got the distinct honor of having L.A.’s first completed green bike lanes. Merging areas and bus zones along First Street were colorized using green thermoplastic. The green colorization was applied on select areas along the 1.6 mile long bike lanes that stretch between Boyle Avenue to Lorena Street. Colorization has been shown to be affective in other jurisdictions at increasing motorist’s yielding behavior, improving bicyclist visibility, and increasing perceived safety for bicyclists. More on the lanes below the fold.
First Ride on First Street
LADOT Bicycle Coordinator Nate Baird rode the new bike lanes on Saturday. He took some great photos (viewable on our flickr stream), and even captured some video. The video very nicely shows how well the colorization highlights bus zones, driveways, alleyways, and intersections. It begins with Boyle Heights resident Jose riding through a green bike lane symbol denoting the start of a new block.
As he continues, he arrives at a greened segment denoting an alley, followed by a dashed segment denoting an intersection approach.
The dashed segments provide a very effective visual cue to both motorists and bicyclists, highlighting the shared characteristics of the space. It tells both motorists and bicyclists to expect to see each other and to watch out for one another.
Special thanks to Boyle Heights resident Jose for showing us how to ride the newly greened First Street bike lanes. Be sure to check out the unedited video below.
[…] Comments « First Street merging areas and bus zones greened […]
Excellent use of color! I love the differentiation between the driveways (solid green) and the merging area (dashed green).
One way to make this installation even better would be to continue the white lane line striping on both sides of the green pavement. The green color is not as visible at night as white, and it is important to insure visibility in low light conditions.
We have quite a lot of these in Melbourne, Australia, and they work really well. Used mainly as you approach intersections and the like where there is a greater chance of conflict. Always pleased to see greater use of this both at home and elsewhere – comparatively cheap, and effective.
This material is Premark preformed thermoplastic with Vizigrip added. It is manufactured in North Carolina by Flint Trading, Inc. It is heated to the pavement with torched and radiant heaters.
http://flint.agilesite.com/gallery/premark.aspx
Love the green bike lanes! Too bad Jose isn’t wearing a helmet. The green bike lanes won’t protect him if he get’s hit by a car!
Right through the door zone. Remember, it’s legal to ride outside the bike lane if it is obstructed of any reason, or if it unsafe due to the possibility of an opending door. Always ride 5 feet from parked cars.
[…] Street is one of L.A’s first green bike lanes and is the first designated Downtown bikeway from the city’s much heralded 2010 Bicycle Master […]
[…] The above chart shows the various materials – paint, concrete stain, thermoplastic – that will be tested along the affected Spring St. bike lane segments. Each block – except for Aliso to Temple – will have five equally spaced segments of each test material; Street Bond Coating, Behr Epoxy Paint, Flint Hot Tape, Behr Concrete Stain, Street Bond Concrete Stain, and Pattern Paving Coating. On the Aliso to Temple segment, the Department will be testing the durability of two different paint products. LADOT will also be testing Flint Hot Tape – the same material used along merging areas and bus zones on the First St. green bike lane project in Boyle Heights. […]
[…] to City of Lights, the 1st Street corridor in Boyle Heights will receive 11 new bicycle racks within the next month or so. To find out more about the request […]
I like the Hummer spilling over into the bike lane. Can green paint prevent bad parking or opening doors?