Bike Lanes for Santa Monica Boulevard?
A local coalition of cyclists wants designated lanes in Beverly Hills.
It's rough riding your bike on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Mark Elliot/LACBC
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Mark Elliot is an urban planner who has lived in Beverly Hills on and off for a decade. When he learned that the city had plans to improve Santa Monica Boulevard, he launched the Better Bike BH campaign in an effort to get bike lanes installed on the road.
Currently, Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills is the missing link between existing bike lanes in Century City and West Hollywood.
On Sept. 21, the city's Public Works Transportation division is reviewing improvement options for the busy thoroughfare. One plan is to re-stripe the existing roadway to create a single bike lane. Another calls for adding "share the road" arrows in both directions with a landscaped median in lieu of a single bike lane. Both alternatives will be reviewed by city management and then presented to the City Council.
But in a town that caters more to the Benz than the bike, Elliot considers the current proposals limited in scope and creativity.
"We are working hard to put in front of our city's policymakers ASAP a more imaginative set of options and opportunities," he said. "We have to make ourselves heard before the request for proposals goes out and certainly long before the concrete is mixed."
Beverly Hills resident and attorney Jennifer Hughes also helped initiate the Better Bike BH campaign. She runs her firm, Hughes Media Law, with sustainability in mind, and bikes to work about once a week. But fear of peddling down Wilshire Boulevard prevents her from cycling more often.
"It's terrifying since the streets are so narrow north of Wilshire," Hughes said. "I'm scared of being hit by someone opening a car door on one side, or by a car [driven by] a speeding or distracted driver."
However, Better Bike BH's campaign doesn't stop at bike lanes. Other goals include more bike racks near bus stops and schools, community bicycle fix-it classes, improved street signage and the encouragement of businesses to reward customers who bike instead of drive. The group also supports Sunday group bike rides to the Beverly Hills Farmers' Market.
Biking can be dangerous, but with help from the city, more can be done to make the roads safer for riders.
One day when my son was cycling to Beverly Hills High School, he was hit while navigating gnarly congestion on Charleville Boulevard at Beverly Drive. He thankfully walked away unhurt. After his accident I found out about Better Bike BH through an e-mail from the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition, whose slogan is "Building a Better Bike-Able Los Angeles County."
By supporting Better Bike BH—and maybe shooting an e-mail to a local official—we can do just that.
If you are interested in improving bike access in Beverly Hills, your city contact is Aaron Kunz, deputy director of transportation, at akunz@beverlyhills.org.
What ideas do you have to make Beverly Hills more bike-able? Have you ever had close calls while riding your bike?
Tell us in the comments.
BJToepper
6:40 pm on Wednesday, September 15, 2010
We have some great side streets that could make perfect bicycle boulevards -- Charleville and Carmelita come to mind. I'd love to see lowered speed limits ("twenty's plenty") on those streets, along with bicycle-only restrictive barriers. Usually, residents love these kinds of changes, too, because they make the neighborhood more family friendly (quieter, safer, etc.). Plus, it would encourage kids to ride their bikes to school. (I'm rather dismayed to see the continuous stream of cars dropping off able-bodied, near-adult students at the high school.) We live in a remarkably crime-free town with a relatively small geographical footprint. It's a perfect place for bicycles -- if only we had safe places to ride them!
Paul M. J. Suchecki
8:07 am on Monday, September 20, 2010
I'd hate to get a speeding ticket for bike riding. I routinely ride between 20-25 MPH.
BJToepper
7:15 am on Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Faster riders would always have the option of taking the main roads with their higher speed limits (and heavy traffic). The main thing is to have an option for the "rest of us," the great majority of riders who rarely exceed 20 mph, who need to get to school or the market or the library.
Marie Cunningham
2:24 pm on Friday, September 17, 2010
Thanks for your comment! Any ideas on how we can encourage teens to ride their bike to school?
BJToepper
1:38 pm on Saturday, September 18, 2010
@Marie:
I think ultimately it's the quality and safety of the infrastructure -- in other words, we need bike lanes and paths suitable for children. I rode my bike on Thursday from my apartment near the high school to a doctor's appointment on Rexford and Wilshire, and then on to pick up an item on Foothill, and finally home. I really doubt many parents would allow their children (below, say, age 15) to ride on any of the side streets I took -- Durant, Charleville, Rexford, Elm, Clinton, etc. -- and they are exactly the streets necessary for many children and young adults to get to school. To be sure, those streets are relatively safe, and perhaps even objectively safe, but they don't feel subjectively safe.
I wrote a small bit on my just-started blog about better bike lanes and paths:
http://examinedspoke.wordpress.com
Mark Elliot
10:51 pm on Tuesday, September 21, 2010
There are some great ideas here. I agree that these neighborhood streets are perfect for cycling, and just right for designated routes to school. That's a proposal that we're working on in our campaign to bring bike-friendly policies to a people-friendly and business-friendly city.
These wonderful streets are by design. Beverly Hills is one of the best-planned cities in the region. It has a nice balance of commercial, industrial, single-family and multi-family zones (speaking as a planner myself). The real detractions in my opinion are an over-reliance on luxury goods sales, insensitive development in the Golden Triangle, and of course, the congestion. You might call it just desserts as our city fought first the subway, then dedicated bus lanes, and seems somewhat indifferent to the needs (and safety) of cyclists. It can be different.
If you're interested, I hope you'll head on over to the Better Bike BH site and join the 25 of us (to date) working on the issue. We can use every voice - and every good idea.
Mark Elliot
Marie Cunningham
1:39 pm on Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Thanks so much for your comments, Mark! We will be sure to continue covering bike lanes in BH as the story develops.
Ellen Lutwak
11:04 pm on Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Attend the Bike Plan Committee on Wed., June 8 at 5 pm in the Public Works building at 245 Foothill Blvd through the Transportation Commission. Suggestions are welcomed to make Beverly Hills more bike-friendly. More racks? Signs?