Bicycle lanes proposed as part of Los Angeles’ recently adopted, long-range mobility plan could be nixed under proposed changes that planning officials say will be taken up by city policymakers early next year.
Ken Bernstein, a manager in the Planning Department, says that proposals to remove certain segments of a “bicycle enhanced network” in the city’s Mobility Plan 2035 will likely be heard by the Planning Commission in February.
Minor changes are expected to be brought back earlier, but the “more substantive” amendments that would change the bicycle network may need additional time and could require more environmental review, Bernstein said told the City Council Wednesday.
Addressing concerns that the changes would fall by the wayside after the larger plan was adopted, Planning Department Director Michael LoGrande assured a joint City Council committee earlier this month that planners would take the extra step of initiating those amendments and present them to the Planning Commission.
If approved by the commission, which is made up of appointees of the mayor, those changes would then be considered by the City Council.
The mobility plan has faced strong opposition from some neighborhood groups and prompted a lawsuit alleging that because the plan sacrifices vehicle lanes to adds bike lanes in many areas, gridlock could worsen in the city.
Though widely supported on the council, with one councilman saying Wednesday it will actually solve the city’s gridlock problems, the plan has some critics who’ve been pushing to remove bicycle lane segments that they believe are unsafe or could worsen congestion.
Councilman Paul Koretz told City News Service he will continue to oppose the plan as long as a section near UCLA remains in it. He said the portion of Westwood Boulevard between Le Conte and Wellworth avenues already accommodates 9,000 buses and 20,000 vehicles a day.
“It’s the last place where you would encourage bicycle riders to be,” Koretz said.
He acknowledged that it’s the most direct north-south route, but said there may be safer alternatives.
Other council members, including David Ryu, have also made motions to remove or change the plans for specific segments in their own districts.
Ryu has submitted proposals to remove segments of Melrose Avenue in the Hollywood and Larchmont Village areas, and Lankershim Boulevard in Toluca Lake.
The discussion of the amendments came as the City Council rescinded and re-adopted the Mobility Plan. Members described it as a “procedural” move made necessary after some legal concerns were raised that amendments not yet reviewed by the Planning Commission were inserted into the plan at the last minute.