Broadway should be sacred pavement for cyclists. Bike lanes, ideally, should serve as safe cross-town pathways for cyclists, taking you from one borough to another. Not just to the grocery store and back. They should have buttery smooth pavement since bikes don’t do nearly as much damage to the road surface.
Unfortunately, in Bronze-Award Bike Friendly Santa Monica, the bike lane is often also known as the:
- The valet parking lane
- The park your entire equipment truck convoy here while you shoot a movie lane
- The porta potty and construction equipement storage lane
- The parking enforcement vehicle parking lane
I have seen construction on Broadway too often, I had to stop and document the bullshit this time around.
Bike lanes on quaint residential streets with low traffic are cute. But some folks like to get places as efficiently as possible, and this is where major streets like Wilshire come into play. Lately, I have been noticing more bike commuters taking Wilshire from Santa Monica to Westwood. If we were to delete car parking in Wilshire’s rightmost lane, there would be plenty of space for a nice wide bike lane plus buffer zone. Low and behold, Wilshire becomes more bikeable for everyone, not just “experts” or those confident enough to ride alongside cranky drivers trying to get to the 405 connector. All of a sudden, you can get from the Ocean Ave/Wilshire >> Westwood/Wilshire in 15-20 minutes, faster than any gas-powered vehicle ever could.
Just a thought.
October 23rd, 2009 → 9:31 pm
[...] two L.A. area stages next May; and yes, Lance and his new team will be there. Dr. Alex looks at a typical bike lane in L.A.’s bike-friendly neighbor to the west, and notes why you shouldn’t try to reclaim your [...]