Mark your calendars! At long last, the MyFigueroa complete streets project is set to open next week.
Whew. It has been a decade since the city of L.A. was awarded the state grant for MyFig. The first community input meetings were in 2010. Early multi-modal visions were watered down as various interests carved away at its scope. A lawsuit from car dealerships nearly killed the project. It was ultimately settled. In October, 2016, officials broke ground with an anticipated June, 2017, opening date announced. Construction dragged out. In June, 2018, as the project appeared to be nearing completion, the bike lanes got a coat of green paint.
Earlier today, LADOT announced that on Thursday, August 30, 2018, MyFigueroa will open with a community celebration. The day includes:
9:45 a.m. Walking Tour led by designers Deborah Murphy and Melani Smith – starting at the YWCA Jobs Corps Center at 1020 South Olive Street. The tour is approximately one hour, covering 1.25 miles.
11:30 a.m. Ribbon-Cutting Ceremonies with Mayor Eric Garcetti, Councilmember José Huizar, Councilmember Curren D. Price Jr., LADOT, Metro, the Department of City Planning, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development – outside of USC’s Galen Center at 3400 S. Figueroa Street.
12:45 p.m. Bike Ride – leaving at the end of the ribbon-cutting. Use Metro Bike Share or bring your own bike.
This is a problem in many L.A. bike lanes, but it feels especially egregious to see scofflaw drivers flaunting this brand new high-profile bike facility.
The protected bike lane signal timing is dismal, with delays that no motorist would tolerate. Bike the Vote’s Michael MacDonald documented spending nearly three minutes at red traffic signals to go only three blocks. While drivers get a green light, the bike signal defaults to red, and forces bicyclists to wait and trigger a green in the next phase. Cyclists will get fed up with these delays and will likely either plow through the light against a red bike signal (with the right hook danger that that entails), or choose alternate routes.
With regressive signal timing and pedestrian beg-buttons, the MyFigueroa project seems to be sending Angelenos the message that, even in downtown L.A., even on a multi-million-dollar multi-modal makeover, cars remain the city’s only priority.
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
Assemblymember Rick Zbur’s (D-Santa Monica) legislation to give greater local permitting powers to a handful of cities in areas where the California Coastal Commission has authority has been watered down and narrowed in scope, but for the one city it would still impact - Santa Monica - it remains a top priority.
SR 37 is going to be under water. But the Metropolitan Transportation Commission just agreed to flush another $11.6 Million into the state transportation agency's $500 million project to widen it. But it'll save the salt marsh harvest mouse according to the agencies.
“SB 1361 simply says transit decisions should be based on legitimate transportation planning issues,” she said, “not opposition tied solely to SB 79 height or density standards.”
