HUNTINGTON BEACH : Bike Lanes Coming on Coast Highway

A Caltrans official on Wednesday said the department is committed to bicycle lanes on the newly widened portions of Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach.

“We will provide for bikes in some form,” said Hubert Hines, deputy district director of Caltrans.

But Hines emphasized that no quick resolution is possible. Caltrans has made the bike lanes contingent on Huntington Beach’s finding a way to replace the 251 parking slots that were lost downtown when the road was widened last year.

City Public Works Director Louis Sandoval said Wednesday that the city plans to build a parking lot north of the intersection of Golden West Street and Pacific Coast Highway. That lot would make up for the lost parking slots, Sandoval said. He added that the city hopes to have the paved lot built within a year.

The public works director said he is happy that Caltrans decided to create bike lanes on the widened section of Pacific Coast Highway. Sandoval noted that the state agency had previously said the highway was not wide enough for six lanes of traffic and two bike lanes.

Michael Mott, chairman of the Orange County Bicycle Coalition, also praised the state’s decision for bike lanes.

“I think this is not only a victory for the bike riders but also a victory for clean air and for the city of Huntington Beach,” Mott said.

Mott and scores of bike riders have pleaded with the state and the City Council for more than a year to ensure bike lanes on Pacific Coast Highway.

In an interview Wednesday, Hines said the state is sympathetic to the needs of bike riders. But he said the limited amount of highway space has made it difficult to get both car lanes and bike lanes.

He said the solution in Huntington Beach will probably involve narrowing an existing concrete median and also making some car lanes narrower than the state ordinarily prefers.

Sandoval said city government has applied for a $750,000 state grant that would be used to narrow the concrete median on Pacific Coast Highway. That money, which would be separate from regular Caltrans funds, would aid speedy completion of the bike-lane project, Sandoval said.

“I think we could have the entire project completed within a year,” Sandoval said.