Updated: Beach Cities Approve Bike Plan

The Redondo Beach Planning and Harbor commissions voted unanimously Thursday night to recommend the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan to the City Council.

The Bicycle Master Plan has already won approval from the Manhattan Beach Planning Commission and Hermosa Beach Public Works Commission.

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Of the seven cities seeking to adopt the plan, including the three Beach Cities, El Segundo, Gardena, Lawndale and Torrance, only the planning commission in Gardena has yet to see and approve the massive bicycle plan.

Assuming Gardena follows in the footsteps of the six other cities, the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan will be presented to the city councils of each city for final approval and move towards implementation.

It was revealed in Wednesday's presentation that the Master Plan, funded by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's RENEW initiative to the tune of $240,000, would look to add 213.8 miles of bike pathways to the 73.2 miles of pathways that currently span across the seven South Bay cities.

It was also revealed that the plan would span across a 20-year implementation period, from 2012 to 2032.

"We looked at this region, and we said, 'This is the best place in the world to ride a bike,'" said Todd Dipaola, founder and chair of the South Bay Bicycle Coalition. "Everybody has a bike in their garage, but why aren't they riding their bikes more? A lot of times, they just don’t feel comfortable. They aren’t enough bike ways and bike lanes for people."

If the plan were to be approved by the city councils in each of the seven South Bay cities, "facilities" would begin to sprout up across the South Bay.

Facilities, as explained by Marissa Christiansen, the South Bay Initiative Director for the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition, is a general term for bike paths, bike racks, and bike lanes.

Dipaola, who founded the SBBC in 2009, commented that nationwide studies show that cities with a strong presence of bicycle transportation networks report an increased amount of bike riders with a reduced number of accidents.

"There are so many good benefits out of this, from the safety aspect to the environmental aspect, to just the livability aspect," Dipaola said.

Leading Wednesday's presentation were Sam Corbett, a consultant from worldwide planning and design company Alta, and Christiansen.

"The reason we feel confident that this will be the final go-around is because we have worked so closely with city staff and with various commissioners, that we’re confident we’ve heard all of the concerns," said Christiansen in regards to the strength of the Master Plan.

During the presentation, Corbett commented that the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan is "the first of its kind in the country," considering the plan incorporates seven separate cities.

Corbett also acknowledged that along with this innovative plan, comes a fair share of challenges.

"It certainly is a unique challenge because typically we just have one client," Corbett said. "In this case, we have numerous, numerous clients in each of the cities. But I think ultimately, we're going to have such a better product."

However, Corbett did maintain that the central challenge of the project—that bicycling is a relatively new movement with constant influxes of new innovations—is somewhat unavoidable.

"A lot of cities have been willing to try more innovative treatments," Corbett explained. "The bicycling profession and field is evolving. It's still a fairly new field. Until the '60s or '70s, we barely had bike lanes."

"More and more cities are trying bicycle boxes, cycle tracks, colored bicycle lanes, a lot of these treatments haven't been adopted yet but cities are experimenting with these types of treatments," he added. "A number of the cities in the South Bay have been willing to try new ideas."

The South Bay Bicycle Master Plan has also incurred the concerns of citizens from each of the seven cities. Several slides from Wednesday's presentation showed drastic changes to major streets in order to make them more bike-friendly.

A number of Hermosa Beach commission members expressed concerns ranging from the space available on narrower streets to the effect of two-way biking lanes on local traffic.

However, Dipaola reiterated that by no means is the Master Plan, the final plan, commenting that studies will continue to take place over the period of two decades on how to improve the Master Plan, as well as keep it up to date.

"Some people look at this plan as the final piece," Dipaola said. "This is really the first piece of a conceptual plan that will last 20 years."

Nicole Mooradian contributed to this report.