Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan Workshops

[kanga]

I know there's a good number of you who are in the Los Angeles environs... The City is conducting a series of public workshops to help develop and get feedback on the needs of bicyclists in the City.

I'll be there, along with El Presidente at the SF Valley location next Wednesday.

I have to admit that I'm skeptical going into this process, but given the success we had in Glendale (we now have a bike park and many miles of new trails approved and in the planning and funding stage), I do have some hopes.

While not mountain bike specific, it will be covering all aspects of cycling in the city. We'll be pushing for expanded access in City parks like Griffith park, as well as a more integrated bike path network.

Here's the official notice:

Los Angeles Bike Master Plan Workshops

The City of Los Angeles is updating its Bicycle Master Plan, which will guide future transportation improvements for cyclists. This is a key opportunity to let the city know what you need as a cyclist and how city policies could better serve you. Attend one of the remaining public workshops:

Wednesday, February 27, 6:30-8:30 pm
Valley location: 6262 Van Nuys Blvd, Van Nuys 91401

Saturday, March 1, 10am-12pm
Harbor area location: 100 E. Water Street, Wilmington 90744

Visit http://www.labikeplan.org for more information.

[kanga]

Tonight's meeting was very informative and it seems like the City of L.A. are doing things the right way. El Presidente, myself and EndoVerendo were there to represent, along with about 60 other bicycling advocates.

One great thing we learned is that the new plan will include off-road bicycling and two meetings in June and August (dates TBA) will be held for feedback on off-road access and issues on city properties.

We were given a brief introduction, followed by a fairly thorough Powerpoint presentation outlining some of the challenges and options the city is facing/considering. Alta Design, the group doing the plan seems to have their act together. They're riders and bike commuters, cyclocross racers, and urban planners, with some big city planning projects already under their belt.

The room was lined with easels outlining the major goals of the plan, along with excerpts from other successful city bicycling plans from around the world that are being considered for inclusion.

There was also a map outlining the current draft proposals, which looked promising. Many of the existing bike paths to nowhere are shown as being linked to other arterial routes and bike paths, along with many new class II (bike lane) routes, and class I (bike path) routes.

The maps and all the information is available at http://www.labikeplan.org. They link through to bikely.com and suggest people create routes and submit them with comments and suggestions for improvements. If there's a route you ride or would like to ride go ahead and get it considered. They're taking feedback for the next six weeks or so, and will then be out in the field taking measurements and doing traffic studies.

The plan is due for completion early next year, but of course, then it all comes down to funding.

So if you live in, ride in, or commute in L.A., it's worth seeing the proposals and making sure your needs are covered.

We'll definitely be attending the off-road meetings in June and August where we'll likely face a barrage of equestrians... and a show of numbers is going to be helfpul.

There's one more meeting on March 1st in the Harbor district.

Thanks for listening.

Looking over the maps, marking them up with post-it's and sharpies:




Endo and Presidente:



A statistic from the powerpoint we all want to see changed:



Marking up the maps:



The easels (all of which can be downloaded in PDF from the web site):



The current draft proposal: