Eyes on the Street: Green Bike Lanes on Culver City’s Duquesne Avenue
Earlier this summer, Culver City installed its first green-pavement bike lanes. There are actually two different projects, both on a half-mile stretch of Duquesne Avenue between Washington Boulevard and Jefferson Boulevard.
Where Duquesne crosses the Ballona Creek bike path, there is a bike path entrance only on the south side of the street. To make it easier for westbound cyclists to turn left onto the bike path, the city installed a green left turn bike lane.
Just west of the creek, the city added a 5-block-long bike lane, that includes thermoplastic-painted green pavement. The green is not continuous, but marks the start of the bike lane at each block, and is dashed through conflict zones where right-turning drivers merge across the bike lane.
The green lanes connect Culver City’s downtown area with the Ballona Creek path which extends to the beach. The facility runs along city hall and police department headquarters.
The new bike lanes did not remove car capacity, but narrowed existing lanes. With the project, Culver City also upgraded crosswalks to high-visibility zebra style.
These are not the first green bike lanes in Los Angeles County; there are existing green bikeways in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Glendale.
There are several more bike projects on the way for Culver City. On August 28, City Council voted to proceed with engineering work for the planned Expo-Downtown Bicycle Connector. The project is anticipated to include two-way protected bikeways on portions of Robertson and Washington Boulevards. The bikeways will better connect downtown Culver City with the Metro Expo Line station and the Expo Bike Path.
A bike hub is coming to the Expo Line Culver City Station. The city is pushing for bike-share, and about to begin outreach for a new Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan.
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