jeisenbe

Long Beach is building a "bicycle boulevard" along the whole 1.5 mile length Vista Avenue, in Belmont Heights. https://www.bikelongbeach.org/Plannin...px?ArticleId=5

I road on it today, and noticed small roundabouts / traffic circles placed at all of the current stop signs (Except for the intersection with Redondo, which is getting a bike-only signal; cars will need to turn left or right), and one of them also had bulb-outs and short raised medians built, to further narrow the road and prevent cars going the wrong-way around the circles.

It should be very nice for bikes when finished; bikes will be able to basically ride straight thru, and turns will be safe.

I also noticed a couple men surveying east Broadway, which is just one block south and parallel to Vista. They said that Broadway east of Termino was going to be resurfaced (The section to the west has already been done).

In the past there were plans for bike lanes on East Broadway, which has very wide (>16 ft?) lanes, only one each side, in most places. Does anyone know if this is still happening, or is the Vista bike boulevard an alternative to the Broadway bike lanes?

I hope we will get both improvements.

According to an article I read, Bike Boulevard improvements are also planned for 6th street from Junipero to Belflower (in Rose Park South, Belmont Heights, and Alamitos Heights), and eventually along a north-south route from Downtown to North Long Beach, starting on Chestnut at Broadway and then going on some other (unspecified?) streets up to 70th.
The Broadway and 3rd street protected bike lanes are also supposed to be constructed this summer

Broadway lanes: https://www.bikelongbeach.org/Plannin...px?ArticleId=4
Vista Construction: https://www.bikelongbeach.org/News/Re...x?ArticleId=69
Article about Vista, 6th and other street mentioned: https://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_15432670

Does anyone know when the new Long Beach Bike Plan will be developed? I really want to find out what else is planned.

grrlyrida

Nooo! We're struggling to get 1 bike blvd on 4th street. And I know they don't have round-a-bouts planned and bike only signals.

I'm going to check out the ride for 4th street Saturday. But I heard the street has a lot of potholes and I don't think they plan to fix that.
https://lacbc.wordpress.com/2010/07/1...er-4th-street/

You guys are so lucky. I need to get down there and check it out. You should do tours of all the bike changes in LBC for us northerners.

travelmama

Bike Boulevards in Long Beach are just as much of a waste as the sharrows on 2nd Street. They are short and in a desirable area where people are driving and when on bikes, just cruising to 2nd Street. I have talked to Mr. Gandy and Mr. Tweed about this and all they can tell me is that things are slowly coming together and change in North Long Beach will take some time. Give me a break! There are more commuters in East and North Long Beach than anywhere I have noticed. We need painted bike lanes and potholes patched, not roundabouts to make a street look cute and increase property value down there.

grrlyrida

Actually round-a-bouts calm traffic, not just pretty up the neighborhood. They have them all over Europe.

travelmama

True but there is not that much traffic flowing on Vista St. In fact, it is a rather sleepy street. If anything, the roundabout should be on Colorado, not on Vista.

LAriverRat

What speed limit will it have ?

jeisenbe

Colorado would also be a good choice, to be sure. But the roundabouts on Vista will remove 8 four-way stop signs, which currently make Vista a bad street for (law-abiding) bike riders, due to all the startinga d stopping at those 4-way stop signs. The roundabounts will make it safer and easier to walk along and cross this street, slow down cars at intersections, and make biking faster and easier.

Vista is a short street, but the project on 6th street will be much longer (about 2.5 miles), and the route form downtown to north Long Beach will be really long and may be quite useful.

I agree that well-designed bike lanes (out of the door zone, good signs and signals at intersections, plenty wide) on arterial or major secondary streets are better for long-distance travel and commuting, but these "bike boulevards" will be great for getting people on bikes in their own neighborhood, and helping many people build confidence before riding on high-traffic routes.

travelmama

This is not possible since Vista runs East to West not North to South. Right now the only real bike lanes North to South are on Alamitos, Atlantic and Orange with Orange being the longest in North Long Beach.

jeisenbe

Sorry to cause confusion. There are currently 3 bike boulevards in the works, according to the Press-telegram article linked above:
1) Vista (under construction) (Belmont Heights)
2) 6th (planned) (Alamitos Beach / Rose Park to near CSULB / VA Hospital / Alamitos Heights)
3) Chestnut and other streets to the north (Downtown to North Long Beach)

https://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_15432670

CritEastwood

First Street from Belmont Shore to Downtown needs to be a Bicycle Boulevard.

kandyredcoi

c'mon cut LBC some slack, im actually quite happy someone is at least taking initiative in making MORE biker friendly areas

and IMHO, Long Beach is in the forefront in southern california (which btw is the craziest car region in the nation)

/end rant

i love riding in Long Beach and cant wait to ride along the new lanes/sharrows

tFUnK

am i the only one here who would rather ride on the streets than on dedicated "bike paths/lanes"?

if you're going to put in bike lanes, put them on larger/faster roads like willow or pch instead of the smaller ones where it's easier to take the lane.

travelmama

No you are not alone. I would rather ride in the street than in a bike lane but it is nice to have then dedicated so that people do get out and feel safe about riding in this and any city. Willow and PCH are excellent streets for bike lanes as they are wide and parallel to the 405 fwy which will get some thinking about commuting.
As for Chestnut becoming a Bike Boulevard, that too is a waste. It is not a straight street (blocked by several streets) and is a few blocks parallel to the LART. A Bike Blvd. should be more inland on Elm or California/ MLK. Better yet, instead of these efforts to make Bike Boulevards and add sharrows, it would be more helpful if the streets were repaved so that people could go for a smoother ride and not have to worry about dodging potholes and possibly getting hit by cars while doing so.

kandyredcoi

^agree

Cleave

Hi,

As a Long Beach resident, I have used Vista a part of my route to get to downtown LB from the east side of the city. I think it's a good choice for starting a system of bike boulevards, bike lanes, and shared roads throughout the city. (Note that a bike boulevard is not a bike lane.)

LB currently has grants to do this work and we could debate which streets are best for cyclists, but I am glad that the city is doing something and everything I've read is at least OK as far as choices. You can't please everyone all of the time, but you have to do something to start changing the culture.

tFUnK

my concern regarding bike blvds/lanes/paths is that uninformed motorists might then expect cyclists to only ride in those few demarcated areas and be less understanding when they encounter cyclists out on the road.

i agree that many of the smaller streets should be repaved.