Last Saturday we had the pleasure of attending Long Beach’s Bike Master Plan Community Update & workshop. The meeting, which will be the first of nine such workshops throughout Long Beach, was held at Lowell Elementary School in the Belmont Heights area. We missed the group bike ride that was right before the workshop. Led by mobility director Charles Gandy, the group likely rode through some of the completed bike projects in the neighborhood, such as the Vista bike boulevard and 2nd Street bike sharrows.
These workshops have been organized so that the city can address the completed goals of the original bike plan, as well as gain input from the community on how to shape the plan for the coming years. The original plan, which was created in 2001, has completed all of its original goals.
Some of the major accomplishments they discussed included:
- Applying for and receiving over $21 million in Bicycle Grants
- 2nd Street Bike Sharrow’s gained national attention and recognition
- Number of bike rides in the city has doubled in the past year
- New bike stores opening throughout the city
- Vista Bike Boulevard completed
- Work beginning on the downtown separated bikeways
Some of the coming projects and future goals laid out in the master plan include:
- Adding 62 miles of bike facilities
- Creating more bike boulevards throughout the city:
- Daisy Street Corridor (10 mile bikeway)
- 6th Street (2 mile bikeway)
- 15th Street ( 3 mile bikeway)
- Creating Bike Friendly Districts (B.F.D.’s)
- East Village Arts District
- BIxby Knolls
- 4th Street ‘Retro Row’
- Anaheim Street
- Installing more Bike Sharrows, in neighborhoods like BIxby Knolls
- Continue 2-way bike lane on 3rd st from Alamitos to Junipero
- Increase bikers from 1% to 5%
Many of these projects are very unique to Southern California, and while they haven’t all been flawless executions, they do show how Long Beach really is leading the way amongst its neighbors for creating more livable, complete streets.
For more information about this workshop, as well as information on future meetings, check out BikeLongBeach.
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Did they give details about the start and end of the planned Bike Friendly Streets? For example, is 6th street going to include a way to get between Ximeno and Park on 6th? (Currently there is a gap in the street at the old Pacific Electric right-of-way). Will 15th street be upgraded all the way from Long Beach Blvd to Ximeno, or just east of Atlantic? And Daisy is only about 3.5 miles long, so I’m not sure about he “10 mile” claim.
I love the idea of a 2-way bike path on 3rd to Junipero; this would slow down speeding traffic (which usually goes faster than the 30 mph limit eastbound where there are 2 lanes), and provide a great way to get to Downtown and the new protected lanes on Broadway and 3rd, there.