Council Approves South Bay Master Bike Plan

Told that the implementation of the South Bay Bicycle Plan would take 20 years, Manhattan Beach Mayor Nick Tell said “Let’s get started. Make it ten.“

His enthusiastic words came Tuesday night during the City Council meeting, at which five members voted unanimously to adopt resolutions to approve the SB Bicycle Master Plan. Nothing is final, however, as each of the seven cities involved will make its own decisions as the project moves forward.

Walt Dougher, former mayor and current member of Vitality City’s planning team, told Council, “What an exciting time this is for the city. How fortuitous that the Bike Coalition and Vitality City with its Livability Plan should come together at this time [council also unanimously approved Vitality City's Livability Plan Tuesday night]. It is not acceptable that our grandchildren are thought to have a shorter life expectancy than we do. How proud we should be that the city is taking steps to remedy the situation.”

The bicycle master plan is intended as a guide for the development and maintenance of a comprehensive bicycle network to connect the seven cities of El Segundo, Gardena, Lawndale, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. The goal is to increase ridership for all levels of experience by making biking safe and convenient.

The proposed goal for Manhattan Beach is to increase bike mileage from its existing 3.2 miles to 31.0 miles, with several classes of bike paths.

Class 1 bike paths will provide completely separated right of way routes for exclusive use by bicycles and pedestrians on The Strand. 

Class II bike lanes are denoted by striped lanes for one-way bike travel on a street or highway, and are proposed for Manhattan Beach Boulevard, Marine Avenue, Artesia Boulevard, Aviation Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue.

Class III bike routes, proposed for Valley Drive and Ardmore Avenue, are lanes that bikes and motor vehicles share, and are typically used on lower volume roadways.

Also part of the master plan, bike friendly streets are local or residential streets that have been enhanced by signs that highlight the presence of children and pedestrians. Bike friendly streets are proposed for east-west streets, 2nd , 8th, and 11th streets, and the north-south streets of Peck, Meadows, Redondo and Harkness avenues.

Council members acknowledged that eliminating parking spaces will be an issue, and Councilman Richard Montgomery asked to be assured that nothing would interfere with the green belt [aka Veterans Parkway], used by pedestrians and dogs, along the Valley/Ardmore corridor.  

A motivating factor in support of this plan is that there is a lot of grant money available, according to its proponents, who say that requests from an integrated combination of cities will be especially attractive to those making the grants.