The ribbon was cut on Venice Blvd. Now let's finish the job for cyclists
Public officials celebrated a job well done, but the job is not done
It was a major spectacle. A ceremonial bus broke through a banner. There were speeches, a ribbon-cutting, and an inaugural first bike ride.
(Of course, none of the VIPs rode in the gutter portion of the bike lane… because why would you?? But we digress.)
We don’t begrudge city officials and activists for celebrating the Venice realignment as a big win. As was mentioned, the project took years of work from elected officials and stakeholders.
Taking out a car lane and dedicating it to buses is totally a win that helps gives folks more options on how they travel.
Our only quibble with the celebration on Monday is that the job on Venice Blvd wasn’t fully finished: The bike lanes are a mess.
Last week, PPM highlighted some big-picture concerns cyclists have about the bike lanes.
Today, we decided to survey Venice Blvd in detail, spotlighting each and every issue in the bike lanes, so they can be fixed ASAP, while the good vibes from the ribbon cutting are still in the air.
Sometimes it’s hard to know who to hold accountable for a certain project. In this case, we can easily see who is taking credit for the Venice Blvd project — the VIPs at the ribbon cutting — and use that as a rough guide for who’s responsible.
In this case, via the event’s press release, we have:
Councilmember/Metro Boardmember Katy Yaroslavsky
Connie Llanos, Interim General Manager, LADOT
Stephanie Wiggins, CEO of Metro
Stephen Tu, Senior Director of Service Development, Metro
Katrina Kaiser, Palms Neighborhood Council
To these public officials and neighborhood reps, here is a TL;DR of the issues we saw today:
The Venice Bike Lanes needs regular sweeping/cleaning, especially given their gutter nature. There’s lots of trash and broken glass.
While the street was repaved, the bike lanes were not. They are badly cracked and bumpy in places. This is dangerous.
Food trucks setting up in the bike lane creates a conflict zone where it’s just a matter of time before a patron gets hit.
Example of rough road:
Example of debris in the bike lane:
Today’s survey covered the Venice Bike Lanes westbound, from National Blvd to Sawtelle. We have broken up the reports into blocks.
Given that the bike lanes are super narrow, it seems clear that they should be unobstructed and free of debris. And just to let out our inner 10-year-old for a moment: IT’S NOT FAIR that the cars get fresh, smooth asphalt, and we get a cracked, bumpy gutter.
A - National to Robertson
Glass/debris - near bus stop
Trash/debris - near La Esquina resto
Tree obstructing path - at Ellis
Debris - at Dennis cars lots
Before we continue on to Block B, PPM would like to note that when we were a young idealistic cub reporter, we didn’t exactly dream of squatting down in the gutter to take pictures of trash… But since L.A. is calling this gutter a bike lane, we are documenting issues with the gutter/bike lane including trash/debris.
B - Robertson to Culver
Grate - near Expo bike path
If the gutter counts as part of the bike lane, is it kosher to have this grate in it? Seems like a crash hazard.
Rough seam - near ramp up to Ross
3. Pothole / rough road - near T-mobile
C. Culver to Main/Bagley
Food truck with awning overhanging bike lane - by Chase bank
2. Dirt/debris in bike lane - near In N Out
Truck parked in bike lane - at Canfield
4. Extremely rough road - near Veda Yoga
D. Main/Bagley to Hughes
1. Trash/debris in bike lane - near Crisp Imaging
2. Grate in the bike lane - at Cardiff
3. Debris - 9713 Venice
4. Bump in the middle of the bike lane - 9809 Venice
5. Rough road / cracks - at Hughes
E. Hughes to Motor
1. Food trucks with patrons ordering/picking up in bike lane - by Smart & Final
(We must reiterate: PPM is pro-food truck. But we afraid of an accident happening here).
Foliage in the bike path - by Big7 liquor store
3. Rough seam - on both sides of Vinton at Venice
Debris / rough seam - near Versailles resto
5. Broken glass - near Versailles resto
F. Motor to Overland1. Cracks/rough road - near Subway
Seam / cracks/ rough road / debris - at Mentone
G. Overland to Sawtelle1. Gnarly gutter - by El Flama resto
Rough road / bumps - by Glendon
3. Rough seam - at Westwood
4. Rough seam - at Military
5. Gravel / debris - at Tilden
6. Trash/debris - at Bentley
Glass in bike lane - at Tuller
Debris blocking bike path - at the 405
9. Debris / rough seam / gravel - at Globe
Annnnd that’s the end of part 1.
We will continue the survey, but this is a good sampler of issues on about 2 miles of bike lane, going one direction.
We have submitted the following questions to Colin Sweeney of LADOT. We will update when we get a response:
1. As part of this project, Venice Blvd was repaved. But the portions of the road that would be bike lanes were not repaved. Why is this?
2. Related to 1: Some sections of the bike lane are super gnarly - with cracks, bumps, etc. Does LADOT have immediate plans to address these spots?
3. The bike lane seems to be full of trash and broken glass in spots. Being in the gutter, this is expected. Does LADOT have a plan to regularly sweep/clean the bike lane? When was it last swept? What is the schedule for sweeping going forward?
4. Can a gutter really count as part of the bike lane? When the VIPs rode on the new lanes at the ribbon cutting, not one of them went into the concrete gutter portion. Does LADOT regularly include the gutter as part of the bike lane? Is this safe/ best practice?
5. Related to 4, if the gutter IS part of the bike lane, then is it safe to have large metal grates in the gutter/bike lane? Seems to us it could be a crash hazard.
6. Does LADOT acknowledge that food trucks are operating in the bike lane, putting both patrons and cyclists at risk of serious injury?
Actually the stretch of Venice depicted is the least of our concerns. Once past Labrea Venice becomes a nightmare - all the way to DTWN LA. I rode Washington for a while but found Adams much better. The key being - in both cases - south of the 10 freeway. However, as both approach DTWN LA, until you get to Hoover with the exception of the Jefferson stretch adjacent to USC the Bike line becomes a memory - until you get to Fig. We need more NS/EW bike lanes like the one on Fig - that is terrific! I ride 15miles to DTLA every work day- and take the train home at night. Better bike lanes and better Security on Metro would go a long way to making LA a greener space.
thank you for reporting the problem with the trash in the bike lane. I also noticed how the bud regularly has to cut into the bike lanes to get to the stop when the easier solution would be to have a pedestrian island so there would not have to be some unsafe interactions with the bus, the people waiting for the bus, and the bikes. very good report overall!