Construction of new traffic diverters at Yucca St. and Cherokee Ave.
We are excited to report that construction has begun on Yucca St.’s new traffic diverters. When the project is complete, there will be three new traffic diverters (at Las Palmas Ave., Cherokee Ave., and Whitley Ave.) designed to prohibit vehicle through movements, while allowing for bicycles to pass through. The new bicycle friendly traffic diverters are part of the Yucca St. Bicycle Friendly Street (BFS) project, that aims to create an attractive, calm, and safe street for bicyclists. Yucca St. is slated to become one of the city’s first Bicycle Friendly Street (BFS) facilities when it receives its full slate of treatments including sharrows (SLMs), wayfinding signage, in addition to the aforementioned traffic diverters. The project’s boundaries stretch for two-thirds of a mile from Highland Ave. to Cahuenga Blvd. Construction is on-going and is expected to be completed by late August 2012. Check out the before and after photos below and be sure to tell us what you think about the project in the comments section.
BEFORE: Yucca St. and Las Palmas Ave. back in April
AFTER: Yucca St. and Las Palmas Ave. as of late July
Bicycle refuge island rendering courtesy NACTO
They’re great! The only problem is that if determined people drove through(!) the barriers before, they’ll definitely drive over these. Some sort of a more vertical visual element/barrier would probably help. But I’m just nitpicking here.
Thanks for the update… I look forward to riding on LA’s first true bike boulevard!
Those refuge islands, while an aesthetic improvement over the signs and pylons that were there before, look pretty bare. This is kind of a bummer, as one of the main selling points used to pitch bike boulevards to non-cycling residents (other than the traffic calming benefits) is the opportunity they afford for beautification and additional greenery.
I encourage LADOT to work with neighborhood associations to include planting space that gets “adopted” by people in the neighborhood wherever new islands or roundabouts are installed as part of BFS projects. It’d be great if those of us who advocate for bike boulevards in our own neighborhoods could have some attractive local examples to point to in cases where residents are skeptical of the idea.
Niall,
Good comment, and something we considered but due to the very narrow width of the islands, landscaping was not an option. We’ll consider these with future islands. And we are working with the community for landscaping as part of the 4th St. roundabouts.
Is the bicycle refuge island going to be wide enough for a bicycle with a trailer (possibly a parent pulling a child) or for two bicycles in each direction to pass through?
For an example of a good design, here’s a link that shows an example of a central reservation area of cyclists in the Dutch city of Assen:
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2012/06/central-reservations-to-enable-cyclists.html
I’m impatiently waiting for someone to come up with a design that is at least as good as what is typically seen in the Netherlands. It can’t be that difficult when you have the space and money to do it.
Dennis,
Yes, each opening is 5′ wide so it can accommodate a bike with trailer. The openings are uni-directional so there is no need to accommodate bikes in each direction in a single opening.
A ten foot wide cycling refuge island would be the amount of space required to accomodate a adult sized bicycle pulling a trailer. A recumbent could be eight feet long.
Dennis,
The width of the cross-streets prevents a longer opening, if you are referring to length. Additionally, these aren’t refuges; bicyclists can proceed straight through the openings without stopping in the island.
Tim,
The width of each lane on Cherokee Ave looks much larger than the vehicles parked on the street in the picture above, so I went out and measured each lane on the streets that will get diverters.
The travel lane on the west side of Cherokee Ave is 12 11″ from a unusually wide gutter pan to median curb pan.
The east side travel lane on Cherokee Ave is 12′ 9″ wide from a also unusually wide gutter pan to median curb pan.
The center median on Cherokee Ave is 4′ 1″ wide, if looked at as parallel to a travel lane, or measured as length as you describe it.
So, with the unusually wide gutter pans, Cherokee Ave is not wide enough to accomodate a 10′ wide median waiting area for bicycles, while still maintaining at least 10′ wide travel lanes.
Las Palmas Ave has a 13′ 10″ travel lane on the west side of the street from gutter pan to median curb pan.
The east side travel lane on Las Palmas Ave is 14′ 2″ wide from gutter pan to median curb pan.
The median is 6′ 3″ wide. So, maintaining a minimum of 10′ wide travel lanes, there could be a median 10′ long to accomodate a bicycle plus trailer in the middle of it.
The eastern side of Whitley Ave has a 15′ wide travel lane from gutter pan to outer part of double yellow line where the curbed median will be built.
The west side of Whitley Ave has a 13′ 3″ wide travel lane due to an unusally wide gutter pan.
The median is 3′ 8″ wide, so there could be a 10′ long median as a waiting area for bicycles if the travel lanes were made 10′ wide.
I don’t have high hopes for seeing low-stress bicycle friendly streets being developed if the minimum standards for travel lane widths have to be at least 13′ to 14′ wide on streets that do not have bus routes.
we need some tactical Urbanism to fill in those islands and make this into a better place for the neighbours.
[...] a night of Streetfilms to benefit C.I.C.L.E.’s Shay Sanchez. L.A. cyclists are about to see their first Bicycle Friendly Street on Yucca Street in Hollywood. L.A.’s original bike advocate will be honored with a rededication [...]