City Event Would Convert Colorado Blvd., Other Streets into Bikeways

Today the City of Pasadena’s Transportation Dept. plans to submit a grant request to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to get funding for an open street event which would temporarily close 25 blocks of Colorado Blvd. and lengths of other major city streets and open them to pedestrians and cyclists.

If funded, the one-day event would occur in May, 2015.

“All of our policies are about making Pasadena more accessible, healthier, activating our streets and making streets safer for bikes and getting people out there,” said Transportation Planning Administrator Mark Yamarone. “The event supports all of our mobility goals as well.”

Also known as a “ciclovia” (meaning “bicycle path” in Spanish), the event would shut down stretches of Colorado Boulevard, South Lake Avenue, Raymond Avenue and the plaza area near City Hall.

FOR MAP OF PROPOSED EVENT’S ROUTES, CLICK HERE

Yamarone estimated the total cost of the event to be between $300,000 and $400,000, of which 20% would be funded by Pasadena with the remainder covered by grant money.

Pasadena’s share, he said, would include the cost of planning and the cost implementation, such as paying for the necessary police, fire, public works and public health coverage on the day of the event.

In a memo on the event, Transportation Director Fred Dock wrote that closing streets to automobiles encourages walking, bicycling and allows citizens to re-imagine their streets and how they travel through communities.

“These events not only encourage walking and biking, but they also serve as an opportunity for many to use the Metro system for the first time,” Dock’s memo says. “These initiatives are also opportunities for economic development and improvement of public health, since they get people out onto the street and patronizing local businesses, all while exercising and interacting with their community.”

The City of Los Angeles has been hosting ciclovias since 2010. The popularity of those events prompted the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to propose expanding the effort countywide by funding by a $2 million grant program.

The 2013 event in Los Angeles, held in June along Wilshire Boulevard, drew an estimated 100,000 visitors and generated $52,000 in additional sales for area businesses, according to a report issued in February by the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies.

The LA events have generated substantial media coverage, and some controversy, as supporters and opponents debate the value of “car-free” zones.

National Geographic called the LA CicLAvia one of “10 Must-Do Events” in the world in June 2013, while others have suggested the cost of coordinating the events outweighs the economic benefits.

Ciclovias currently take place in cities across the U.S. and in at least 10 other nations.