Yesterday, the east San Gabriel Valley cities of Claremont, La Verne, Pomona, and San Dimas together held their first CicLAvia. It was the easternmost open streets event ever in L.A. County, and one of the more suburban CicLAvias to date.
Though the route was about seven miles from the nearest Metro rail station - the APU/Citrus Metro Gold Line terminus - it was accessible via Metrolink commuter rail, numerous bus lines, and an event shuttle. Participants reported that CicLAvia's Gold Line shuttle was overwhelmed, with many interested cyclists choosing to instead ride seven miles, uphill, to access the festival. Metrolink San Bernardino Line morning trains were crowded with bicyclists.
Not quite as hugely crowded as many central L.A. CicLAvia events have been, tens of thousands of people enjoyed the car-free open streets. Along the route, cyclists, skaters, walkers explored neighborhoods. Dismount zones at the four city hubs featured lots of activities, booths, and large crowds. Each of these cities has its own Main Street scale downtown commercial area, originally situated for convenient connection to historic train stations, some of which will be the sites of future Gold Line Stations. Yesterday's event showcased and activated historic downtown districts in Claremont, La Verne, and San Dimas. (Pomona's historic downtown is a couple miles further south, on what is today Metrolink's Riverside Line.)
Outside the hubs, the route included several streets fronted by single family homes. Some of these streets are fairly large - some five lanes wide. This meant temporarily closing lots of driveways - and in some cases, adding temporary barricades to preserve driver access to some streets. Nonetheless, it appeared to work very smoothly. Many blocked homes had folks sitting out front greeting event participants.
Did you walk, skate or ride yesterday's CicLAvia? How did it go? How was getting there and back?
SBLA coverage of San Gabriel Valley livability is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”
