As we’ve reported earlier, 0.5 miles of Los Angeles St. between Alameda St. and 1st St. in downtown Los Angeles will be getting bike lanes within the next few weeks. Los Angeles St. is an important facility that will offer direct connections to Los Angeles Union Station (the region’s preeminent transit hub), attractions along Olvera Street, and other civic institutions. Los Angeles St. will connect with new bike lanes on 1st Street, which will facilitate bicycle travel between existing/future facilities on Spring St. (existing) and Main St. (expected by early summer 2012), and other attractions including Little Tokyo and the Music Center.
Exploring downtown Los Angeles from Union Station – whether you arrive via Metro Rail, municipal bus, or Metrolink Bike Car – will be much more comfortable thanks to the Los Angeles St. bike lanes. Biking from Union Station’s front entrance at Alameda St., bicyclist will be greeted with a buffered bike lane leading up to Arcadia St. The buffer picks up again after the 101 freeway off-ramp and continues to the lane’s terminus at 1st St.
Between Temple St. and 1st St., one travel lane in each direction will be re-purposed in order to provide for a 6′ bike lane with a 4′ painted buffer. Portions of the Los Angeles St. bike lanes (where conditions permit) will have a 4′ painted buffer similar in design to the Spring St. bike lane. The buffer will be comprised of painted chevrons that designate visual separation between motor vehicle travel lanes and the bike lane. Expect the lanes to go in sometime within the next few weeks. As always, tell us what you think in the comments section below!
Thanks for posting this… good to see LADOT pressing ahead with more buffered lanes!
A quick Google Maps investigation shows the red curb on NB Los Angeles St. adjacent to the old Parker Center being used as an LAPD squad car parking area. I assume steps have been taken to ensure that this won’t conflict with bicyclists’ use of the new lanes?
Hi Niall,
Yes we’ve been in touch with LAPD and they’ve let their personnel know about the upcoming bike lanes and the increased need for the tow-away no stopping zones to be adhered to.
[…] New Downtown Bike Lanes Coming June 2012 (BIKAS, LADOT Bike Blog) […]
How do the sections where the bike lane is separated from the adjacent travel lanes by a painted dividing section comply with the bold-print, mandatory requirement in the Caltrans Highway Design Manual that bike lanes “shall be located immediately adjacent to a traffic lane as allowed in this manual” (HDM Index 301.2, edition of May 7, 2012)?
The Los Angeles St. bike lanes were designed and signed off prior to May 7, 2012. If one still wished to determine compliance to the new manual, the cited paragraph seeks to redefine bike lanes separated from traffic lanes by parking or physical barriers as bike paths. The painted buffer does not fall under this category, and is a form of gore area which features standard markings per CA MUTCD.
Looks like a great addition. A perfectly reasonable biking infrastructure improvement. I look forward to more of the same.
Good job, L.A…
[…] Comments « A closer look at the new Los Angeles St. bike lanes […]
Here’s a report that provides a quantifiable measure of traffic stress for bicycling:
Click to access 1005-low-stress-bicycling-network-connectivity.pdf
This should make it easier to pinpoint what would be most effective in increasing the rate of bicycling in an area.
It would also help to get traffic engineers, planners, bicycle advocates and residents to better understand the needs of most people who would consider bicycling.
The report points out that the stress level of a route is determinted by its most stressful link and not by an average. You cannot compensate for this high stress level link by having the rest of the route a low stress level.
Grid Chicago just published four questions and answers with Chicago Department of Transportation project manager Mike Amsden about the plan to install 100 miles of protected bike lanes and 40 miles of buffered bike lanes by 2015:
http://gridchicago.com/2012/cdot-responds-to-our-questions-about-the-streets-for-cycling-plan/
Chicago received $40 million in federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds to pay for these bicycle infrastructure implementations. Their biggest concern seems to be trying to come up with funds to maintain the bicycle infrastructure.
The city also received federal funding to start a bicycle sharing program.
I’m very interested to see how Chicago does in increasing the commuting modal share of bicycling in the next few years compared to Los Angeles.
The two cities are pretty evenly matched in modal share currently and the goals for miles of new bicycle infrastructure per year is comparable per population.
The contrast is that Chicago is emphasizing the installation of protected bike lanes and buffered bike lanes, while Los Angeles is focused mainly on installing unprotected bike lanes and bicycle friendly streets.
Is someone at LADOT bikeways aware that the section of Winnetka Ave that crosses the Orange Line bike path was recently repaved and striped, yet there were no bike lanes put in? That’s a opportunity missed. This section of Winnetka Ave is listed on the five year implementation of the 2010 bike plan.
Go get ’em Dennis!
I could not find the recent repaving of Winnetka Ave on the Bureau of Street Services current roadwork completed, in progress or committed projects. I checked all the way back to the beginning of January 2012 on their website.
I found this document which states that the resurfacing of this section of Winnetka Ave is part of the $2 million in federal economic recovery program money that was given to LA, which also includes the installation of bikeways along the LA river:
http://recovery.lacity.org/recovery/rpt_project_profile.cfm?id=46
I found the street resurfacing on Winnetka Ave under the Bureau of Engineering:
http://boe.lacity.org/uprs/report/ProjectInfoReport.cfm?k=4775&dmy=13848
Hi Dennis,
We’re be doing a blog post soon to let everyone know what the story is on Winnetka Ave. Thanks!