Santa Monica Patch has a preview of the draft Bergamot Street Network plan (pdf)--a veritable cornucopia of bike and complete streets planning for the area around the forthcoming madeover Bergamot Art Station and Phase II of the Expo Line. Planning staff will present the plan later this week to the Santa Monica Planning Commission. The Bergamot Street Network functions as a circulation map for the area and proposes infrastructure to support a variety of modes. About 3,000 tourists, shoppers, and sun worshipers are expected to use the new Bergamot Station every day when it opens in 2016.
According to the Santa Monica Patch, priority will be given to bike facilities and to "Traditional Complete Streets." The plan targets Stewart Street, which runs north-south through the city, for a buffered bike lane. Yet to be determined, however, is the exact form of the proposed bike lane. In the words of the plan: "This may be provided as cycletrack or standard bike lanes depending on traffic speeds, volumes, and community priorities for Stewart Street." The Street Network also recommends buffered bike lanes for "26th Street between Colorado and Olympic, and Michigan Avenue to the east of Cloverfield Avenue." Also high on the priority list for funding are the "Traditional Complete Streets" (defined as "distinct lanes for bikes and cars, as well as sidewalks, on-street parking and curbs and gutters") for Olympic Boulevard, Stewart Avenue, Standford Street, Pennsylvania, and 26th Street.
Lower down the priority list for funding are "Flexible" and "Shared" streets. Proposed flexible streets are Nebraska Avenue and an Expo retail street through the former PaperMate site. Those streets would reconfigure sidewalks to add outdoor dining, small parks and plazas, and diagonal parking. "Shared" streets (including "extensions of Nebraska and Pennsylvania Extension, Berkeley Avenue and new streets") would encourage walking through traffic-calming measures.
Cities that are resistant to complete streets (Beverly Hills comes to mind) might want to consider that the Bergamot Area Plan is funded by a grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development under the "Partnership for Sustainable Communities" program. Another component of the Bergamot Area Plan includes the Bergamot Transit Village, which recently ruffled feathers across the border in Los Angeles.
· Road Map to Future Bergamot Circulation Drawn [Santa Monica Patch]
· Bergamot Art Station Getting Expo-Friendly Hotel and Museum [Curbed LA]
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