Preview of Friday’s Task Force Meeting on Local Transportation Funding Options

Posted on January 23, 2013 by
LADOTBikeBlogFlickrSpring1st

Funding needs for capital improvements, operations programs, and maintenance projects exist for all modes of transportation on our city streets. Photo credit: LADOT Bike Blog

Our next Mobility Element Task Force Meeting, scheduled for this Friday, January 25, 2013, will focus on sustainable local transportation infrastructure funding strategies. In addition to finding sustainable funding resources for new capital projects, one of the fundamental questions facing the City is how we will fund the ongoing operations and maintenance costs of new and existing improvements.

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Complete Streets Networks, Part 4: Meet Our Draft Bicycle-Enhanced Network

Posted on January 18, 2013 by

We previously introduced our draft Transit-Enhanced Network and plans for pedestrian enhancements. Here’s our proposal for the draft Bicycle-Enhanced Network. We are asking you to tell us if the candidate streets should receive enhancements or if a different street should be chosen for enhancements. Take our draft Bicycle-Enhanced Network Survey here.

Click on the image for the full Bicycle-Enhanced Network.

Click on the image for the full Bicycle-Enhanced Network.

Our outreach participants consistently cited safety concerns as the primary deterrent to bicycling in Los Angeles. Although our city has a climate and topography suited for bicycle trips, many worry about compromising their safety due to high vehicle speeds and the lack of protected bicycle lanes and connecting routes. High vehicle speed is not only a major deterrent for bicyclists of all abilities, but also increases the likelihood of more severe injury or fatality during collisions. 

We want to bring cycle tracks, like the one shown here on New York City's Ninth Avenue, to Los Angeles. Where should the first one be?

We want to bring cycle tracks, like the one shown here on New York City’s Ninth Avenue, to Los Angeles. Where should the first one be? Photo Credit: Beyond DC/Streetsblog DC

In order to fulfill our Mobility Element goals and achieve complete streets, we recognize that the City needs to create a network of comfortable, safe on-street bicycle facilities that will reach local and regional destinations for all types of bicyclists. The City’s 2010 Bicycle Plan set the groundwork for creating a bicycle-friendly Los Angeles and improving safety for all roadway users. The update of the Mobility Element provides an opportunity to further identify facilities for implementing buffered or protected bicycle facilities that could encourage Angelenos aged 8 to 80 to cycle to their destinations.

LACityBikePlanNetworks

We want to build upon the Backbone and Neighborhood Networks to bring desirable aspects of the Green Network (like buffering from vehicles and exclusive spaces for bikes) to our streets.

We took a stab at a first draft of a more robust bicycle network by building off of the City’s Bicycle Plan. What’s available now for review and discussion is what we’re calling the draft Bicycle-Enhanced Network, a 120-mile subset of the streets on the 2010 Plan’s Backbone and Neighborhood Bikeway Networks. The new bicycle-enhanced streets will work in conjunction with existing paths and lanes to provide a network of bikeways for all types of riders. The rest of the facilities designated on the Networks will be implemented as envisioned by the Plan, but the enhanced streets will receive treatments beyond a regular bicycle lane or shared lane marking (sharrow). The majority of the bicycle-enhanced streets are major streets on the Backbone Network, but in some locations, streets on the Neighborhood Network were chosen as better candidates when there was a conflict with other modes that could not be resolved.

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Complete Streets Networks, Part 3: Pedestrian Enhancements

Posted on December 28, 2012 by
crosswalk_treatments

Menu of crosswalk options from SF Better Streets

Whether walking to the car, bike or bus stop, every trip begins and ends with walking. Acknowledging this, Los Angeles is attempting to shed its reputation as an auto-oriented city to a multi-modal one. Los Angeles celebrated many great strides in 2012 towards improving walkability in the city, including the appointment of two pedestrian coordinators at the Department of Transportation. The recent announcement of the continental crosswalks program is a direct implementation commitment made by the City to improve pedestrian safety. On the advocacy side, Los Angeles Walks, a non-profit organization committed to promoting walking and pedestrian infrastructure, officially re-launched with a new steering committee (check out the organization’s list of top pedestrian achievements in 2012).

These changes signal a stronger commitment by the City and its residents to improve safety for pedestrians and to make walking a more accessible and pleasant transportation option. The City acknowledges that walking in Los Angeles can be dangerous. Recent coverage by the L.A. Weekly on hit-and-run incidents and LA Streetsblog underscores the dangerous conditions faced by pedestrians and other roadway users, and collision data provide more evidence. According to the California Highway Patrol’s 2010 Annual Report of Fatal and Injury Motor Vehicle Traffic Collisions, there were 219 fatal collisions in 2010 in Los Angeles. Of these collisions, 100 (46%) involved pedestrians. Our previous post on safety and collisions gives a ten year overview of pedestrian-related collision rates across the city.

The conditions of our streets that impact pedestrians often discourage people from walking, which in turn discourages transit use and limits opportunities for active transportation. The Federal Highway Administration’s 2010 Conditions and Performance Report found that, nationally, barriers to walking included the perception of too much traffic, not enough street lighting, wide road crossings, as well as concerns regarding crime, the lack of pedestrian infrastructure, or the lack of time. As a citywide policy document, the update of the Mobility Element provides a unique opportunity to put in place new rules and tools to address the aforementioned barriers to improve the walking experience.

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Complete Streets Networks, Part 2: Meet Our Draft Transit-Enhanced Network

Posted on December 21, 2012 by

We discussed the idea of Complete Streets Networks in our previous post. Today, we will explore our proposal for one of its components, a connected network of streets that are enhanced to advantage performance for transit – the “Transit-Enhanced Network.”

LA Mobility Element Transit Enhanced Preview Dec 12

Click on the image for the full Transit-Enhanced Network.

Through our outreach, we heard about several factors that deter Angelenos from using public transit. The most frequent concern was that our transit system simply is not fast enough due to slow travel times, infrequency of service, uncoordinated transfers, and lack of direct access to destinations or transit stations. Other outreach participants noted that using transit was often difficult to navigate and could be more expensive than driving and parking.

LA Mobility Element Arterial Network Oct 12

Our city has over 1,300 miles of arterials, all optimized for vehicle movement.

The Transit-Enhanced Network, as proposed, consists of 230 miles of arterial streets that collectively will improve the performance and reliability of existing and future bus service. Improvements along these streets—such as infrastructure, signal timing, or stop enhancements—aim to provide reliable, safe, and convenient transit service. Enhancements also aim to increase transit ridership, reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips, and integrate transit infrastructure investments with the identity of the surrounding street. The transit technology on these streets would primarily be high-capacity buses. Bus service would be improved through the following:

1. Right-of-way infrastructure improvements: Transit-Enhanced Network streets may receive treatments within the right-of-way to allow for exclusive traveling space for high-capacity bus service. However, the type of considerations, such as peak hour or full-time lanes, or median or curb-side, will be determined upon further community outreach and analysis.

2. Signal timing infrastructure improvements: Transit-Enhanced Network streets may also receive signal timing features that benefit high-capacity bus performance: signal prioritization, signal pre-emption and queue jumps.

3. Stop enhancements: Bus stops along the Transit-Enhanced Network may receive the following enhancements to improve the transit experience for system users: Off-board fare collection, bulbouts for boarding ease, wider sidewalks, shade, bicycle parking, shelters and benches.

We should note that improving transit service in the City requires the ongoing coordination between the City, Metro and other municipal transit operators. We are coordinating with Metro as we develop our networks, and municipal operators from Culver City Transit, Big Blue Bus, and Foothill Transit have been brought into the conversation as well. Ultimately, because the City owns the roadway and sidewalks used by buses and their patrons, the right-of-way is the responsibility of the City. In this way, the City has a big role in improving transit service by changing the way our streets are used.

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Complete Streets Networks, Part I

Posted on December 18, 2012 by

Over the next few weeks, we will be presenting a series of posts about the concept of the Complete Streets Networks, an implementation step we have been exploring in addition to the Mobility Element goals and policies. These posts will serve as a supplemental resource to the draft network maps as they are presented for public review. Feedback and questions can be shared on our Online Town Hall or by contacting us.

What are “complete streets?” 

pg. 113

A street network is “complete” when it provides accommodations for all roadway users regardless of travel mode, age, or ability. In the State of California, the 2008 Complete Streets Act (AB 1358) mandates the following:

“…that the legislative body of a city or county, upon any substantive revision of the circulation element of the general plan, modify the circulation element to plan for a balanced, multimodal transportation network that meets the needs of all users of streets, roads, and highways, defined to include motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, children, persons with disabilities, seniors, movers of commercial goods, and users of public transportation, in a manner that is suitable to the rural, suburban, or urban context of the general plan.”

A complete street not only provides a safe space for different modes and travelers, but also enables complete trips in an interconnected transportation system. This may include driving to a park-and-ride rail station, walking to a bus stop, biking from home to work, or many other multi-modal trips. Successful implementation of complete street policies will result in increased options to get from one place to another; less traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emission; more walkable communities; and fewer travel barriers for active transportation and those who cannot drive such as children or people with disabilities. Complete streets play an important role for those who would choose not to drive if they had an alternative as well as for those who do not have the option of driving. The Complete Streets Act specifically encourages an increase in non-driving modes of travel:

“Shifting the transportation mode share from single passenger cars to public transit, bicycling, and walking must be a significant part of short and long-term planning goals if the state is to achieve the reduction in the number of vehicle miles traveled and in greenhouse gas emissions required by current law.”

With the new Mobility Element, we hope to develop a street system that satisfies multiple policy goals. In a city like Los Angeles—with over 6,500 miles of streets, 469 square miles of land, and nearly 3.8 million people—this is a tall order.

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Draft goals and policies are out!

Posted on December 5, 2012 by

Documents

After more than a year of public outreach and visioning, we have come up with a draft of the goals and policies that will go into the Mobility Element. You can download that draft document here. These six goals and corresponding policies were developed based on what we have heard in the past year. Our public outreach is still continuing and we would like to know what you think about these draft ideas. Give us your input directly on our Online Town Hall, leave us a comment on this page, or contact us.

In the next coming weeks we will be rolling out more content for public input including maps and our complete streets network concept. Please check out our blog again in the near future!

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Task Force Updates

Posted on November 14, 2012 by

Comments and ideas from the task force meeting

On October 23rd we hosted our fourth task force meeting and shared a working draft of the Mobility Element goals, objectives, policies, and programs. We presented members with the same six goals we have been sharing on our blog for the past few weeks: Safety First, World Class Infrastructure, Access for All Angelenos, Informed Choices, Clean Environment and Healthy Communities, and Smart Investments. You may notice that the order of the goals has changed slightly, reflecting the iterative process of our work and acknowledgement of feedback from the public and task force members.

At the meeting, we presented the progress on our outreach and the development of the draft document. More importantly, the meeting progressed into a group discussion and critique of the goals, objectives, policies, and programs in order to refine and improve them for the nearing presentation to the public. Although the task force reacted positively to the draft transportation vision for the future of our city, there was one recurring question: how do we ensure that the City follows through on all these policies and implement real change? We will discuss this how question in the context of our goals: safety, access and health, and investments. Continue reading →

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Clean Environment and Healthy Communities

Posted on November 2, 2012 by

A smoggy Los Angeles skyline
Photo via the Metro Transportation Library and Archive

Our transportation choices impact our natural resources, including the air we breathe. Changes in our transportation planning can not only protect our environment and city’s sustainability, but also improve the physical health of Angelenos by reducing the levels or pollutants to which we are exposed. Motor vehicles are a leading source of air pollution, and despite technological improvements in vehicle emissions, the sheer number of vehicles on our roads result in high levels of particulate matter in the air. Particulate matter includes pollutants in the air like carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that negatively impact ozone levels, climate change, and overall air quality.

According to a 2011 report produced by Partnership for Prevention, greenhouse gas emission levels from transportation sources increased 17% from 1990-2009 in the United States, nearly all from carbon dioxide. Transportation accounts for one-third of all U.S. emissions, 64% of which result from passenger cars and light duty trucks. Unchanged, these levels are expected to increase 10% by 2035, a rate at which the United States alone would contribute to one quarter of all global transportation emissions.  However, we have the potential to reduce transportation sector emissions by up to 65% from current levels by 2050. Compliance with stricter vehicle emissions regulations, new emissions-reducing technology, and behavioral shifts to make fewer vehicle trips are all ways in which we can reduce our transportation emission levels.

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