Dunbar

Rode the path on Tuesday and all was well. Rode it today and the bike path is closed due to the repaving project in El Segundo by the RV parking lot and also further south too. The "detour" around this section takes you up onto Vista Del Mar to mix it up with 50+mph car traffic with no bike lane for at least a mile. Not fun even for experienced riders. I hope they finish it soon but I'm not holding my breath since it took 3 months to complete the Playa Del Ray section. At least the detour around Playa Del Ray was minimally inconvenient.

Mugre

Don't speak for all experienced cyclists. I and more than a few friends prefer Vista del Mar south of Playa del Rey to the bike path. Sandy curves, many, many jarring lips of broken concrete and the moronic things that other bike riders do on the path make me feel safer up on the roadway.

Dunbar

Playing chicken with angry drivers doing 50+mph is not my idea of fun. I don't think someone on a beach cruiser is going to kill me either. Not really an issue since they had the outermost lanes blocked off with cones on Vista del Mar today for bikes. Hopefully they keep the cones up during the week too.

Pokey Rider

I just rode that section today and it was fine. The only issue that I had was on the way back (south bound) some idiots were riding against traffic on my side of the road. I guess they didn't want to wait for the light to change to get to the correct side of the road. Never the less, it was a beautiful day to be on the bike!!

Dunbar

I noticed the same thing. I think they're just scared or ignorant of the concept of making a left turn against oncoming car traffic. I actually saw some of them using the crosswalk to get across the street where the detour begins.

Biker395 

That whole Braude path improvement has been a mess. A lot of the sections they replaced did not need replacing, and what did need repair could have been done about as well by a group of Eagle scouts over a few weekends. On top of that, I'm told (I take the frontage road) the new pavement is rougher than what was there in the first place. A lot of money and time, spent for little good effect.

As far as Vista del Mar: 55+ MPH traffic + little shoulder = No bueno.

PS: It's possible to stay on the bike path by bike n' hiking it a few times. Cut over when you get to the RV park.

Biker395 

Rode through there this AM .... the cones are gone. All that effort to cone the lanes on and erect all those signs ... and all the effort to take them down ... just for the weekend.

oy.

Just as galling is how they've fenced off some of the portions of the path they are working on.

I understand that they need to fence those areas off, but do they HAVE to fence it off in a way that discourages people from just picking up their bikes and walking around? In a couple instances, they piled a crapload of sand 4 feet high right next to the path (and a block wall on the other side), making people walk waaaaay around it, or scale a 4 foot high wall of sand.

Someone apparently had enough of that and bent the metal rods holding the fencing up to make their way through. I don't condone destruction of property like that, but I can hardly blame them in this case.

Instead of spending $$$ placing cones and signs for the weekend riders and removing them for commuters, wouldn't it have been a better idea to set a few railroad ties down so people would walk around the areas under construction more easily for the next couple of months or so?

Dunbar

The section that parallels Admiralty Way is in much greater need of replacement. I use the frontage road as well so I can't comment on the quality of the repaved section in Playa Del Ray. The part they're working on now, between El Segundo and Manhattan Beach, wasn't in bad condition. But if they do a good job, and get rid of the breaks in pavement and wavy sections, I won't be complaining either.

TerriB

i was out there this morning and it was a mess, even with lighter traffic for spring break. agree that the need for replacement of many sections is questionable. money could have been better spent engineering some walls to keep the sand from blowing onto the bike lane, especially on that stretch along el segundo by the utility plants. yes, the new parts seem a bit wider and rougher.....i'm thinking this is one of those "infrastructure job creation" projects.

Biker395 

^ Do I know you, TerriB?

+1 on everything you said. Erecting a sand fence would help keep the path much clearer of sand and would be money well spent.

Good news ... the two southernmost repair portions (the ones that made it difficult to walk around) are almost completed!

The concrete is poured, smoothed, and is curing as we speak. I'm seriously amazed. Maybe these repairs won't take as long as the others did.

Dunbar

The signs out there say the project is supposed to be completed by May. I rode it last evening and the section by the RV park is still bare sand. They're basically pouring a new sidewalk which isn't usually a labor intensive project...

Dunbar

So I rode the path today (Thursday) and they had the cones back up along Vista del Mar but only on the southbound lane(s). Seems like decent compromise during the week when fewer cyclists are using the path. I hope they keep that up on weekdays. The blocked off lane causes quite a backup for the auto traffic along there during rush hour.

Biker395 

^ Where you out there in the early AM? I rode through there Wednesday PM, so decided to give it a try riding northbound Thursday AM.

Lo and behold, there were 3 large gravel trucks parked in the coned off lane, blocking it entirely and forcing bicycles into the oncoming traffic. That meant a hair-raising sprint against traffic for 200 yards or so.

I contacted the people responsible for the bike lane construction (LA County) about it, and while they agreed that was dangerous, they pointed out that parking enforcement was the realm of the City of Los Angeles.

I sent them an email as well. I'm not holding my breath ... these are the same people that answered my inquiry about a ridiculously dangerous sidewalk with an offer of discounted city labor rates if I agreed to pay to fix it myself.

Dunbar

No, I was out there about 6pm. You would think gravel trucks were there for the bike path so they should know better than to block the detour.

Biker395 

That's just what I was thinking! But the e-mail I got indicated that they had heard about the gravel trucks, and they were there for the power plant construction instead. That kinda figures, I guess.

blood_donor

Has anyone noticed that the new "wave pattern" sea wall along the El Segundo power plant is perfectly designed to kill anyone who hits one of it's many sharp corners? Not to mention it's cheese grater texture that will chew you up pretty well if you miss the hitting corners. It's going to be a nightmare during the weekends.

blood_donor

Biker395 

Yup. I thought the same thing. It's also an ideal place for someone to hide for an ambush when you're riding home in the dark.

You'd think the people that design these things would think it through, but I guess not.