LOS ALAMITOS : City Drops Plans for Bike Lanes

While expressing regrets, members of the City Council have decided to scrap the proposed bicycle lanes along Los Alamitos Boulevard that were to link up with the county’s bike trail system.

Citing the city’s limited finances, council members said constructing the bike lanes would be too costly. A city engineer study showed that additional right of way would be required along a quarter-mile section of the road.

“We gave it our best shot,” said council member Charles Sylvia after the council’s unanimous decision Monday. “We worked hard on this because it’s what everyone wants. It’s not feasible now, but we’ll try everything we can” in the future.

The council decision was expected. Last month, the city’s Traffic Commission, which has conducted public hearings on the proposal, recommend to the council not to proceed with the project.

Commission members agreed with City Engineer Arnt G. Quist that for the bike lanes to be feasible, private property from Howard Avenue to Katella Avenue would have to be purchased to provide adequate space for both the bike lanes and pedestrian traffic.

Given the city’s finances, it was not considered practical.

Mark A. Wagner, director of recreation and community services, said the city will have to reimburse the Orange County Transportation Authority $15,000, which is what is left of a $37,000 grant the OCTA provided to the city in July, 1990, to fund the bike lanes study.

He said $22,000 was paid to BSI Consultants, which conducted an 18-month study on various options for the bike lanes. The consultant proposed six options, but five were rejected by the Traffic Commission in July.

The sixth option, on-street bike lanes, was studied further but rejected when Quist showed that the quarter mile from Howard Avenue to Katella Avenue was too narrow and unsafe.

“We’ve determined that the bike lanes are not feasible,” Wagner said. “So preliminary designs are not needed.”