THE GOODS : ECONOTES : City Peddles Plans for Cyclists
Los Angeles bike riders are invited to preview the city’s Revised Bicycle Plan at public workshops next week. “We’ve been working on the plan for more than a year, with consultants and the city’s bike advisory committee,” said Michael Davies of the City Planning Department. “This is the first public presentation.”
The plan would add 320 bikeway miles to the city’s existing 131-mile system in a network of commuter routes connecting neighborhoods with urban centers, rail and bus stations, and places of employment. The typical complaint about the current bikeways, Davies said, is that they “go nowhere.”
Despite a climate and topography many other cities would consider close to ideal, he said, Los Angeles is not a bike-riding city. “Right now about 1% of the commuting public bicycles to work. We would like to see that increase to 5% by the year 2015.”
Research showed two primary obstacles: the safety factor of riding a bike in traffic (the plan would add more than 300 miles of striped bicycle lanes) and the lack of secured bike parking.
Workshops are Tuesday, 6-9 p.m., at the Westchester Municipal Building, 7166 W. Manchester Blvd., and Thursday, 6-9 p.m., at the Sherman Oaks Women’s Club, 4808 Kester Ave.
For information or copies of the proposed plan, call: (213) 237-0130.
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