For LA...
 

I know I dont get on here much anymore but this **** is kind of nutty. I saw today that the bike lane is being painted over in black. Does anyone know what is goin on. Are they goin to put sharrows all over Sunset or what? If anyone knows what is goin on please let me know. And if they are painting over...if anyone knows who to contact in the city about this please let me know as well.

Thanks Killa Kyle

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/184/4...bce49597_o.jpg

looks like you guys are losing your bike lanes. Not that it matters those lanes are dangerous, being in the car door zone and all.

I think President Bush and Haloburton are behind this. It's a conspiracy. Bush will probably say it's for your health; without the bike lanes you won't be encouraged to ride, and therefor won't breathe in as much toxic L.A. smog.

Of course he won't say it as grammatically correct as that. But ...

Seriously though, what's the cycling scene in LA like? I've thought about it before, but haven't a clue. There are cities you hear about as cycling "meccas" of sorts, and L.A. definitely isn't one i've heard of in that respect. Portland, Seattle, NYC, Madison WI, Minneapolis, DC, but not L.A. Perhaps the city officials don't see enough people using the lane and think there's no point to keeping it. But to actually spend money to paint over it, that's insane. Why not just let it fade away, or wait til the repave. They must be moving it or widening it.

Perhaps they're moving it to the middle, between the traffic lanes (you'd have traffic on both sides then). They do that in some places in Minneapolis, and it takes a few days to get used to , but it's actually kind of nice.

Maybe the city is upgrading it's motor pool to HumVees and they'll need the extra space for parallel parking them.

I remember in August of last year the city council was talking about repainting many of the bike lanes to "dashed lines" instead of the blue solid lines and possibly using a different color. Might also have something to do with diverting bike traffic to the planned Santa Monica Blvd Transitway bike lane.

Sunset Blvd on the westside has been known to have had several serious car/bike accidents, esp in the curves where cars often exceed the speed limits (55+ mph in a 35 mph zone) and cross over lanes (not just the bike lanes either) with regularity. Personally, they should add those reflector bumpers in the bike lanes to warn/wake up drivers that they are crossing over into the bike lane and slow them down..

Hey! That's mi bario! :beer:

Thanks Sci-Fi...I will look into it. And Fixer why havent we ever ran into each other?

The cycling scene here is changing. Seems like before now all you would see are the racer/poseur types or illegals on a Magna, Huffy, or Pacific. Now you see a lot of the urban hipster single speed types.
It's a good thing, I love it. And why not, there are few places in the world with weather as good as Los Angeles. I was in a local bike shop today and they had Soma handlebars, Brooks saddles, unlabeled SS frames in beige and in gray, and steel Nitto track bars. I commented to the owner that the urban cycling thing is getting big and he agreed.
100 plus person group rides are ordinary. Mountain biking is fabulous. New world class velodrome in Dominguez Hills.

Ironically Bush is an avid cyclist...rides a mtn bike (Trek Fuel?) on his ranch and around Washington...clipless too. He had to give up running/jogging after a knee injury and took up cycling seriously after that.

But nobody knows if he has an opinion/policy on bike lanes. With all the roads and bridges that need to be repaired, bike lanes might be very low on the national must do list and they'll (both demos and reps) probably leave it up to individual states and cities to allocate existing federal funds to fund those projects.

Contact these people................

http://labike.org/info/contact.html

Black is the new black?

Stealth bike lanes?



Where is that?

I believe they are starting a Sharrow program.

Sounds like a good idea, bike lanes next to parking suck.

It is one Sunset at Benton and yes bike lanes next to parked cars does suck but better than sharrows in my opinion on Sunset. The ****in Buses drive like mad ****s on Sunset and I have family on that street everyday commuting. I would much rather see them get dorred than ran over by LA Metro. Sharrows are for smaller streets in my opinion. Not streets that people think they should go 50 in between stop lights 1/2 a mile away.

Around where I am now and back home in LA, we take what we can get. A bike lane at all is a feat.

A bad bike lane is worse than no bike lane at all.
No one should have to choose between being doored and being run down.
I cruise Venice every morning and it's just better to take the lane once the bike lane runs out than to hug the curb while traffic buzzes you the whole way in.

Let's hope that they are putting in sharrows...

Not directly related, but I found this quote:

"Once sharrows are accepted, they will become the preferred solution," says Kevin Jackson, who sits on the Bike and Pedestrian Committee in Sunnyvale, Calif. "Not because they are better, but because they are politically expedient."

I completely disagree

I in no way support the door zone bike lanes BUT if faced with the option of fighting for a lane and having a bike lane, the bike lane wins.

If you choose to take the lane for long periods of time you will be
(a) buzzed within inches or worse, hit
(b) yelled/honked at (especially if there is a bike lane next to you!)
(c) pulled over by a cop even if it is your legal right

dwoloz,

I would have to say that I disagree with you too.

Though I would never advocate someone taking the lane if they don't want to,
For me it is much safer.

I take the lane almost all the time, unless it is safe to share the lane:
A) I rarely get buzzed, and never hit from behind while taking the lane, but I have been doored from riding in unsafe bike lanes.
b) I ignore honking, which again happens rarely and usually happens when there is another free lane to pass so the person looks like a moron.
c) Pulled over by an LA cop once for being out in the lane too far on La Brea, I told the cop to write me a ticket and he wouldn't because he knew he was wrong. (Almost all of my LAPD run ins have been very positive.)

The road on Sunset is obviously too small for a bike lane and should have sharrows, just like that cruddy bike lane on Santa Monica Blvd. through West Hollywood. The whole poor bike lane design buys into the myth of cyclists always yielding to motorist traffic and that we should be happy with whatever scraps traffic engineers throw our way, no matter how unsafe or poorly designed.

The value of a bike lane is not fixed. In moving traffic, it's the worst. It's value rises in direct relation to congestion: nice to have a clear path to the red light, ushering you past the many tons of caged frustration and wafting exhaust.

spelled with two r's... gotta roll your tongue when you say baRRio =)

:eek:

and about the bike lanes... no big deal - those bike lanes are reserved for ninjas !

not much difference where I live either