The dedicated bicycle lanes proposed for North Figueroa Street, part of the unanimously approved 2010 Los Angeles City Bike Plan, now face public review prompted by concerns expressed by City Councilmember Gilbert Cedillo and some community members. More than 350 people crowded the Nightingale Middle School auditorium on May 8, as the public comment segment stirred heated debate among proponents and opponents of the lanes.
The proposed lanes would run along a two-mile stretch of Figueroa Street from Avenue 22 to Avenue 52, in Cypress Park, Sycamore Grove and a portion of Highland Park, and include a “road diet” removing one of the southbound traffic lanes. Proponents of the bike lanes cite accident statistics and the improved safety for bicyclists and pedestrians that a road diet and dedicated bike lanes would bring to the North Figueroa corridor. Originally planned to connect to York Boulevard, the length of the bike lanes has already been reduced, leaving a mile-long gap between major bikeways.
Over the past few years, LADOT studied the North Figueroa bike lanes extensively, and concluded that they “would not impede emergency access.” According to Streetsblog, “LADOT spent time and money analyzing how North Figueroa bike lanes could impact emergency response. During that process, LAPD and LAFD were notified, and neither LAPD nor LAFD expressed any official concerns. The final approved LADOT study documents concluded that there weren’t any significant adverse impacts.”
However, members of LAPD and LAFD speaking at the May 8th meeting claimed that the lanes could increase emergency response time by up to a minute and allegedly jeopardize public safety. Testimony was provided by Captain Ed Elguea, LA Fire Department Fire Station 44; Captain Jeff Bert, LAPD Northeast Station; Sergeant Luciano Meza, LADOT Traffic; and R. Scott Page, LA Metro Operations Planning Manager, Service Planning. These Los Angeles City Department representatives expressed concerns of increased traffic congestion if the southbound traffic lane is removed as proposed by LADOT. According to Captain Elguea, “From a professional opinion, this [North Figueroa bike lane project] will slow down our response time.” The LAFD’s response to questions regarding their agency’s position on the Figueroa lanes stated that “while the Department has no official position at this time on the proposed North Figueroa bike lanes, our station commanders are often an integral connection to the community and have localized knowledge and experience that they occasionally share in public forums.”
LADOT has implemented several other road diet bike lane projects, including 7th Street, Spring Street, Main Street, and Rowena Avenue in central Los Angeles. Road diets have been implemented on Colorado Blvd and York Blvd in Northeast Los Angeles. Many of these projects are on streets that are home to LAPD and LAFD stations, and neither LAPD nor LAFD have raised response time concerns with any of these on-the-ground improvements.
Additionally, while bike advocates mainly focus on the safety improvements for cyclists and pedestrians, according to a Federal Highway Administration study, “road diets make streets safer for all road users. Pedestrians get fewer traffic lanes to cross. Road diets’ biggest safety gains are from eliminating blind spots for drivers turning across two lanes of oncoming car traffic.”
Councilman Cedillo suggested a plan involving bike sharrows on surrounding streets rather than any changes to Figueroa itself, but will continue to hold community meetings before the project moves forward. “My sense is that we have to bring EVERYBODY together and work toward consensus, and that takes time,” Cedillo stated. “I’ve worked on projects that have taken 16 years. I don’t know why it delayed, why it faltered… What I’m focusing on now is how we can bring these groups together.”
In response to this meeting, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition has called on supporters to engage with Cedillo by calling his City Hall office at (213) 473-7001 and his Highland Park office at (323) 550-1538 to voice their opinion on whether or not the bike lanes should be installed.
The next community meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 12th at 6PM, with a location still to be determined.
