To: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
From: TED SEMAAN, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
TITLE
title
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF THE SOUTH BAY BICYCLE MASTER PLAN AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR INSTALLATION OF PROTECTED BIKE LANES IN THE CITY
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Council and members of the public have recently expressed interest in the status of implementation of the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan (“SBBMP”), which was adopted by City Council in 2011. Additionally, as part of the adoption motion for the FY2020-21 Budget, City Council directed staff to “bring a discussion item regarding the evaluation of creating protected bike lanes on major arterials and collector streets”. In response to these requests, staff is presenting this report to provide insight into the progress made in implementing the SBBMP and into the evaluation criteria used in considering installation of bike lane facilities in the City, including the newest class of Caltrans approved bicycle facilities known as a Class IV Protected Bike Lane.
BACKGROUND
The SBBMP (see <http://www.southbaybicyclecoalition.org/south-bay-bike-masterplan/become-an-expert-the-south-bay-bicycle-master-plan-presentation/>) was developed by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and the South Bay Bicycle Coalition in partnership with the City over an 18-month process involving 14 community workshops in seven cities. The SBBMP was adopted by the City Council via Resolution CC-1110-525 in 2011. See Attachment 1. The SBBMP provides an overall discussion of the benefits of expanding, connecting and otherwise improving the bicycle network in the South Bay cities, including increased ridership for commuting and recreational purposes, reduction in pollution, and promotion of healthier lifestyles. The CEQA document associated with the adoption of the SBBMP identifies the document as a planning document for developing bicycle facilities on existing rights-of-way and that “the proposed project consists of a planning study for possible future actions that are not yet approved, adopted or funded by the City.” Adoption of the SBBMP made the City eligible to receive outside funding from certain Caltrans programs.
The SBBMP recognizes the three (at the time) Caltrans identified classes of bike facilities, Class I Bike Path, Class II Bike Lane and Class III Bike Route, and a fourth category known as a Bike Friendly Street. Since the SBBMP was developed, Caltrans has identified a new standard for bike facilities called a Class IV - Protected Bike Lane, but there are no proposed Class IV facilities in the SBBMP. By Council direction, staff is evaluating all SBBMP identified Class II proposed facilities for Class IV feasibility. A brief description of each type facility is included below and further expanded upon in the SBBMP. An excellent summary with photos and illustrations of each type of bike facility classification can be seen on the Caltrans publication in Attachment 2.
A Class I Bike Path is a facility with exclusive right of way for bicyclists and pedestrians, away from the roadway and with cross flows by motor traffic minimized. Common applications include along rivers, shorelines, canals, utility rights-of-way, railroad rights-of-way, within school campuses, or within and between parks.
A Class II Bike Lane is established along streets and is defined by pavement striping and signage to delineate a portion of a roadway for bicycle travel. When greater separation from an adjacent travel lane or on street parking is provided, usually by chevron or diagonal markings, the facility is referred to a buffered bike lane.
A Class III Bike Route designates a preferred route for bicyclists on streets shared with motor traffic not served by dedicated bikeways to provide continuity to the bikeway network. Bike routes are generally not appropriate for roadways with higher motor traffic speeds or volumes. Bike routes are established by placing bike route signs and optional shared roadway markings (sharrows) along roadways.
A Class IV Protected Bike Lane / Cycle Track is similar to a Class II Bike Lane in that is along a roadway for exclusive use of bikes only but, unlike a Class II, a Class IV is protected from motor vehicles by some type of vertical feature. The separation may include, but is not limited to, grade separation, flexible posts, inflexible barriers, or on-street parking.
A Bike Friendly Street or Bicycle Boulevard is a shared roadway intended to prioritize bicycle travel for people of all ages and abilities. Bicycle Boulevards are typically sited on streets without large truck or transit vehicles, and where traffic volumes and speeds are already low, or can be further reduced through traffic calming.
The SBBMP also provided, both in list and map form, locations for the proposed installation of these various types of bike facility on city streets and State highways in the South Bay. The SBBMP maps and lists of street segments showing the proposed facilities for Redondo Beach are included as Attachment 2. Per the SBBMP, the proposed buildout of the plan for Redondo Beach will encompass over 38 miles of new bicycle facilities. This represents, a 24-mile increase over the stand-alone Redondo Beach bike master plan that existed at the time.
Since adoption of the SBBMP by the Redondo Beach City Council, staff has been seeking opportunities to install the proposed facilities primarily on the City’s arterial and collector streets. The City has applied for and received several grants for projects that involve pavement resurfacing and restriping to consider adding new bicycle lane striping and signage installation as part of their scope. However, implementation of the SBBMP has proven to be more difficult than anticipated. A number of proposed facilities have been put on-hold due to public sentiment and others are infeasible as proposed due to limited road way and right-of-way widths, or other technical reasons. Important facilities along Inglewood Avenue, Prospect Avenue, Artesia Blvd. and Aviation Blvd. are in this category. In some cases, a Class II facility is not feasible but Class III is being considered in planning/design or on the list to be studied in the future. More advocacy and public outreach will be required for these segments.
Despite these challenges, many CIP projects are underway that will provide detailed design of bicycle facilities at locations identified in the SBBMP. They include the Manhattan Beach Blvd. Rehabilitation Project, the Torrance Blvd. Rehabilitation Project, the upcoming Residential Street Rehabilitation Program projects and Citywide Slurry Seal projects, the Beryl Street project and a Metro Call for Projects Grant funded project for bike facilities throughout the City. A detailed list of the road segments being addressed and the status of this grant project is included in Attachment 4.
Regarding the new bike lanes along Torrance Blvd., the contractor installed Class II dual stripe bike lanes in 2019 in error. Due to the limited width available in the roadway, the installation should have been only one line at 12 feet from the curb per the Caltrans standard, which allows only a single stripe to be placed at 12 feet from the curb. When adjacent to on-street parking with a minimum of 13 feet, the standard would allow both stripes to be installed. Both are considered standard Class II bike lanes, although the latter is preferred, when space is available. The City corrected the error to remain within the standard by blacking out the stripe closest to the curb. The current project to resurface Torrance Blvd. is considering design modifications along the entire route from PCH to the City boundary with Torrance, to allow installation of a preferred (two stripe) Class II bike lane in each direction.
To date, only about 3.5 miles of the 38.8 total miles envisioned have been installed. However, on an encouraging note, another 13.3 miles worth are in active planning or design phase (see list above) and will be brought to the City Council for approval and public bidding in the next couple of years. Another 12 miles can likely be addressed in the coming years by use of City crews and the City’s on-call striping contractor, as funding is available. The remaining 10 miles are deemed to be “on-hold”, for reasons cited above, and require additional advocacy or development by project proponents. These statistics are summarized in the following table. See Attachment 5 for the detail that supports this analysis.
|
Type |
Proposed |
Completed |
In-Process |
City Crews |
On-Hold |
|
Class I |
0.9 |
0.8 |
0 |
0 |
0.1 |
|
Class II |
19.6 |
2.5 |
3.3 |
4 |
9.8 |
|
Class III |
7.6 |
0.2 |
5.8 |
1.6 |
0 |
|
Bike Friendly Str. |
10.7 |
0 |
4.2 |
6.4 |
0.1 |
|
Total |
38.8 |
3.5 |
13.3 |
12 |
10 |
|
% of Proposed |
100% |
9% |
34% |
31% |
26% |
Barriers to more robust implementation of the SBBMP are rooted in the competing multimodal interests of cyclists, motorists, parking and pedestrians for use of the existing right of way. Redondo Beach’s street layout was auto-centrically developed in another time, in some locations over a century ago. While modes of transportation have evolved in that time, prevalence of the automobile in the latter parts of the 20th century have long dictated the use of streets. Both through-traffic efficiency and the availability of on-street parking have dominated the layout of Redondo Beach streets and platting of private property. The high relative value of coastal property biases development toward buildings being close to property lines. Changing laws including those dictating requirements for accessibility and providing for multiple uses adds to the competition. Today, Redondo Beach is faced with challenges to implement the SBBMP on many arterials and collectors, such as Inglewood Avenue, Prospect Blvd. and Aviation Blvd.
The City’s varying roadway widths, need for on-street parking, traffic volumes and other use demands for the City’s right of way make it difficult to share a one-size-fits-all solution for installation of bike facilities on a Citywide basis. However, understanding the tradeoffs, and necessary decisions to identify priorities, goes a long way in evaluating what type of bicycle facilities are possible on a given street or street type. Staff presentation for tonight’s meeting (see Attachment 6) will identify some of the barriers and discuss the critical tradeoffs that must be addressed when considering implementation of on-street bicycle facilities.
On September 28, 2020 the Public Works Commission (PWC) received a similar report on the status of the SBBMP and the tradeoffs inherent in determining how to design facilities into a built-out community. Their input included considerations of safety as a prioritization tool for SBBMP implementation, connectivity to City destinations and transit hubs, pursuit of grants as a funding source for future projects, the role of real estate acquisition to widen rights-of-way, and coordination of routes with other cities. Attachment 7 contains the Draft Minutes of the September 28, 2020 PWC meeting.
COORDINATION
This report was coordinated with the Streets Division and Engineering Division of the Public Works Department and with the input of the Public Works Commission. The report also benefits by input from South Bay Bicycle Coalition Board Member Jim Hannon.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with tonight presentation. As discussed, many of the bike facilities in the SBBMP can be paid for with grant funds, as part of programmed CIP projects or through activities identified in the public works maintenance and operations budget.
APPROVED BY:
Joe Hoefgen, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Resolution CC-1110-525
2. Caltrans Bike Facilities Classification Guide
3. Maps and Lists of SBBMP Proposed Facilities for Redondo Beach
4. List of Bike Facilities included in Call for Projects Grant
5. Street by Street Status of SBBMP Implementation
6. Presentation Slides
7. PWC Draft Meeting Minutes of September 28, 2020