HUNTINGTON BEACH : More Bike Lanes Sought for Highway

Dozens of bicyclists are expected to pack tonight’s City Council meeting, continuing their lobbying effort to get more bike lanes on Pacific Coast Highway.

After a decade of planning, the state Department of Transportation this summer is scheduled to re-stripe a 2.2-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway, adding a third motor-vehicle lane in each direction.

The new six-lane highway between Beach Boulevard and Golden West Street would leave just a two-foot-wide path for bicyclists, many of whom use the route to get to and from work.

There is no existing bike path along the stretch of highway. But cyclists say the current four-lane configuration leaves them room to ride along the area now reserved for street parking, and they say they would be happy to maintain that arrangement.

Traffic demands along the stretch of highway, however, have prompted Caltrans to move ahead with plans to re-stripe the highway and add new traffic lanes.

If lanes are added, bicyclists say that bike lanes should also be included in the project. Noting that the central issue is traffic, bicyclists argue that bike commuting should be accommodated, not discouraged.

Caltrans officials say the only way to accommodate bike lanes would be to widen the street. City officials, however, estimate that it would cost $12 million to acquire the needed property, making the task unaffordable.

If the city does not add the lanes, it would lose a $945,000 Orange County Transportation Authority grant that it received for the project.

The city staff is attempting to distance itself from the issue, noting that Caltrans has the final word on state highway improvements. City staff members are recommending that bicyclists use the beach bike/pedestrian path when riding through Huntington Beach.

Commuter bicyclists say that option is not practical because the mix of pedestrians, bicyclists, roller skaters and others creates a hazardous path.

Don Harvey, leading spokesman for the bicyclists, said the group will continue pleading its case to the council tonight.

When sidewalks are considered, the city has enough existing right of way to add bike paths without widening the highway, Harvey said.

Caltrans recently narrowed the median along Pacific Coast Highway to add four feet in each direction. Harvey said that if the median widening were combined with moving one curb, “they could get all the space they need for three lanes and bike paths. But what was done is ill-designed.”