Originally Posted by Bekologist

I had to go back and reread this thread to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding what a bicyclist posting in a car-free forum at bike forums was saying about Los Angeles first ciclovia event and how the promoters envision future weekly "car free days" liberating angelenos from their automobiles.

The greater LA region can easily improve the roads and highways for bicycling. How affordably and sustainably LA could improve conditions for bicycling is infinitesimal compared to the costs of a few freeway miles. There are other factors driving transportation policy in the 21st century like air quality or how balancing costs in a declining economy predicates a shift away from the transportation paradigm of subsidized private automobile use.

Cities are looking at where money is being spent, and in a place like Bell, California, you've got to wonder how much could have actually gotten done for the neighborhoods. Where entire counties can fall into bankruptcy, perhaps there's a cheaper way of doing things for the public. Communities show positive social and fiscal benefits by encouraging active transportion and there's no reason for this to somehow be inapplicable in the LA basin.

Cities across the US are having to take a long hard look at their budget shortfalls, particularly in places like Orange County, but people in LA will likely welcome these car free street events like every other city in the world that has them. Ciclovia events are no idyllic pipe dream, and by no means would regular ciclovias in LA mean the interstate freeways would get barricaded and no one could drive their cars in LA on a Sunday.



By no means should bicycle traffic be ignored in a city like Los Angeles. Ciclovias are well received even in huge, sprawling cities. I'm surprised a bicyclist posting at the car-free forum would somehow disagree with that. Mabye that's a sign of the cognitive dissonance about the automobile endemic to life in LA.