Long Beach, already on a serious roll with bikes, has a plan in the works to add bike infrastructure to a long north-south artery that passes through several neighborhoods and council districts, with east-west connection to the LA River Bike Path. According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the $1.2 million Bicycle System Gap Closures and Improved Los Angeles River Bike Path Access would add bike lanes and sharrows along the lengths of Pacific Avenue and San Antonio Drive. Other, less significant bike amenities will be added along Del Amo Boulevard and on Harding Street. The project also includes new signage to guide riders toward the Los Angeles River Bike path. But before you go thinking that this is one of those feel-good stories, neighborhood groups along the proposed new route are still lukewarm to the prospect of adding the bike safety measures.
Some of the city's more radical bike improvements of recent years might be inspiring some of the resistance from locals--Joan Greenwood, vice president of the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance tells the paper "I think people basically don't want what was done along Third Street and Broadway" (separated cycle tracks along Third and Broadway were completed in 2011). But really it's just about parking, according to the LBPT: "Greenwood said Wrigley residents and business owners were nearly unanimous in insisting that bike lanes not come at the expense of parking spots."
The project, still in the design and outreach phase, is expected to appear before the City Council in 2013.
· Bikeways pedal into new areas in Long Beach [Long Beach Press-Telegram]
· Long Beach Getting New, Less Panic-Inducing, Bike Lanes [Curbed LA]
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