Sierra Madre and Arcadia are the recent recipients of new bike infrastructure in the SGV.
Arcadia added 3.6 miles of bike lanes on Huntington Drive and roughly 2 miles on First Avenue/Highland Oak Drive. The bike lanes were funded through a $1.483 million grant through the State's Active Transportation Program. In addition to the bike lanes which have all been installed, bike routes are also being added. Those will include signage and sharrows. Bike detection signals will also be added throughout the city at intersections and a few locations, said Johnathan Doojphibulpol, an assistant engineer with the City of Arcadia. The remaining work should be completed in a few weeks, he said.
This is a welcome addition on Huntington Drive which has up to six travel lanes, on-street parking and a wide center median. Yet, as Rob Lewis of Monrovia says, this area should have more than just paint and should include a protected bike lane with traffic on this stretch of Huntington routinely going above 50mph. And at intersections, transition striping to queue motorists and bicyclists is nonexistent. "The travesty of it all," says Rob, "is that there is SO much space on that road [Huntington] just sucked up by cars."
In Sierra Madre, bike lanes were installed on Sierra Madre Boulevard between Lima Street and Michillinda Avenue and on South Baldwin Avenue from West Orange Grove Avenue and Suffolk Avenue. The new 0.3-mile Baldwin Avenue bike lanes connect to bike lanes further south on the street between Orange Grove and Foothill Blvd, making the route roughly 0.7 miles of bike infrastructure.
The 0.5-mile Sierra Madre Boulevard bike lane connects at its western end with the city of Pasadena's 3 miles of bike lanes on the same street. While both the additions of the South Baldwin Avenue and Sierra Madre Boulevard connect to already existing bike infrastructure, both stop short of making a connection at South Baldwin Avenue and Sierra Madre Boulevard intersection.
Sierra Madre resident John Lloyd said he was happy about the new bike lane additions in Sierra Madre, but that they don't go far enough. He wished they were protected bike lanes and not located on the left side of street parking and in the door zone of drivers exiting their vehicle. This is more problematic on South Baldwin, since it is an uphill stretch that slows down cyclists increases the speed differential with cars. "Sadly, the minimal, disconnected nature of these bike lanes will not encourage anyone who doesn't already bike to do so for local trips," he said.
What do you think of the new bike lanes? Leave a comment about what you think.
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