Proposed Westwood Bike Lanes Sent Back to the Drawing Board

WESTWOOD, CA - The routes for bike lanes proposed in Westwood and South Los Angeles would be tweaked under amendments advanced by the Los Angeles City Council today.

The council voted 10-1 to ask the city Planning Commission and Mayor Eric Garcetti to consider shifting two bike routes proposed in the city's long- range transportation plan, Mobility Plan 2035, to alternative streets.

The Planning Commission in February sided with bicycle activists when it rejected Councilman Paul Koretz's proposal to remove a route along Westwood Boulevard, near the UCLA campus, and Councilman Curren Price's motion to nix a Central Avenue route in South Los Angeles.

Koretz and Price have said the routes now included in the mobility plan's "bicycle enhancement network" would be unsafe due to the narrowness of the streets and the amount of existing traffic from other vehicles that use the route.

The council voted today to send the issue back to the Planning Commission, and to Garcetti, this time with suggestions for alternative routes.

The proposed amendments call for the Westwood Boulevard route to be replaced by a route along Gayley and Midvale avenues, and for the Central Avenue route in South Los Angeles to be moved to Avalon Boulevard.

Once Garcetti and the Planning Commission decide to support or reject the proposed routes changes, the issue will return to the City Council for a final vote.

Garcetti is planning to back the two bike lane route changes advanced by the City Council today, according to mayoral aide Connie Llanos.

City News Service