The newish and improve-ished Main Street Bike Lanes which seems momentous next to the progress being made elsewhere in the City.

I’m for the addition of protected Bike Lanes, especially if we can build a network which is starting to form in downtown.

 

 

While I’ve ridden the previous buffered lane on Main Street hundreds of times, this was my first experience with this new configuration.

Overall, I walked away (literally) feeling like I had a positive experience, but it’s hard to fully evaluate when you’re focused on creating an entertaining video like I do.

I felt safe making my way even though I was going against traffic, but I did feel like I was waiting longer than expected stopped at the traffic signals.

Shortly thereafter, the much respected Michael MacDonald posted a petition for LADOT to stop prioritizing drivers over pedestrians on Spring & Main so the confusion is real.

 

This bike lane block is being added to SafeLanes.org

 

Riding in the gutter was also problematic in a couple of places with debris piling up and I had to duck under a tree early, but hopefully these are problems that now get on the radar to be handled.

Hopefully, getting a flat isn’t indicative of the Main Street Bike Lanes and more of the luck from a small sample size…but still….

One of the new features that I didn’t cover was addressing how part of the lane ends right before Cesar Chavez Ave.

 

Not the culprit for my flat tire, but will be for someone else…

 

At Paseo Luis Olvares, the small one-way street above La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, northbound cyclists turn left into a small protected bike lane against traffic before heading north again back on Spring Street.

Meanwhile on Main, it’s only southbound and against traffic between Cesar Chavez and the turnoff because I don’t know….

 

Main Street Bike Lanes split into one

 

I don’t want to deter the City from adding these types of protected bike lanes because we’d be far better off if we had a larger network of them.

My hope is that as these get added, we start to fine tune how this infrastructure gets implemented and have a better framework for future projects.