Beverly Hills Plans Bike Lanes On Beverly Boulevard

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The city is moving forward with plans to add bike lines to a section of Beverly Boulevard despite concerns from some City Council members about the usefulness of the lanes and the paint used to mark them.

The plan calls for bike lanes to be added to either side of the 0.3-mile stretch of Beverly Boulevard between Santa Monica Boulevard and Doheny Drive, as laid out in the city's 2021 Complete Streets Plan. There is currently no street parking on that stretch of road: The plan will not require any loss of parking nor removal of lanes.

The installation of the 5-foot bike lanes will require crews to narrow vehicle travel lanes, from 12 feet to 10 feet wide, city documents show.

The lanes will allow cyclists to connect with existing bike routes on Palm Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard and allow for connections to planned bike lanes on Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood.

The plan was advanced at the City Council study session Tuesday after an hour of discussion, where council members referenced concerns raised earlier by Traffic and Parking Commission Chairman Ron Shalowitz, who was the lone vote against advancing the bike-lane plan at a recent commission meeting.

"I'd really really like to pause. I think that it's a tough stretch of road. I'm an avid cyclist, 6,000-plus miles a year, I'm out on the streets 4-5 days a week," Shalowitz said Tuesday. "It does need to happen, it is happening, but I think we need to pause on this one."

Shalowitz suggested the city first install "sharrows" — road markers that indicate motorists should share the road with cyclists — initially, and wait to see what comes of neighboring cities' bike-lane plans before moving forward. He citied concerns about vehicle travel speed and the number of intersections on Beverly Boulevard.

Around 53 cyclists travel on the stretch of road daily, according to city staff.

Other concerns centered around the special paint that city staff would use to mark the bike lanes. Some of the markings would go on concrete, which may make the paint more susceptible to wear.

But City Engineer Daren Grilley said his colleagues are testing the resiliency of those markings on concrete before it would be used on Beverly Boulevard. Additionally, he said the city hopes to install narrow delineators to allow for protected bike lanes, which would make any road markings less imperative for safety.

Other concerns revolved around how planned repairs to the road surface might create safety issues for cyclists; Grilley said the repairs would be completed regardless of the plans and would not impact cyclists.

"With everything that I'm hearing, there's no reason not to do it," Councilman John Mirisch said. "There's no reason to delay it, we can always make upgrades if we want."

He said Beverly Hills has an opportunity to build out its bike network, which could help inspire plans in surrounding communities like West Hollywood — "that's how you ultimately create connectivity," he said.

Mayor Julian Gold asked Grilley to return to the council if the project looks like it would exceed 10 percent of its approximately $10,000 budget.