Guest Opinion | Cary Belling: City North Lake Safety Plan Lacks Access For Bikes

On August 31, I watched Pasadena’s Department of Transportation (DOT) deliver its third community webinar for the North Lake Traffic and Pedestrian Enhancement Plan. DOT is offering three options. Option 1 has street enhancements but no bike lanes. Option 2 has street enhancements with bike lanes at street level and option 3 has street enhancements with bike lanes at sidewalk level. Despite a multitude of questions from the public, obviously in favor of protected bike lanes for the corridor, DOT continued to insist that protected bike lanes, paratransit access, and business parking and loading cannot co-exist on North Lake Ave. Their position contradicts the fact that cities all over the country have added protected bike lanes complete with ADA accessible designs, and that businesses along bike lane corridors have seen increased revenues when these streets become safer and easier to access.

The North Lake corridor that runs from Mountain Avenue to the 210 freeway has persistent problems.These include excessive dangerously high vehicle speed, frequent collisions, a noisey and unfriendly pedestrian environment, air pollution, lack of parking for the Lake Metro Station, and lack of bike access to social services, churches, restaurants, and businesses. By excluding bike lanes, DOT’s recommended plan misses addressing the other issues as well. Most regrettably, the DOT presentation made it clear that sufficient homework had not been done to explain the exclusion of people on bikes and scooters. And, in citing their own public outreach, they could not even display the correct name of a prominent safe street advocacy group to which I belong, and with whom they have held ongoing dialogue. (Full disclosure: though I am a member of this group, the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, this article reflects only my opinions, and does not formally represent Pasadena CSC.)

Thankfully, there is a very attractive alternative plan to consider. In its blogpost, “Let’s Build A Safer, Better North Lake Ave”, the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition has documented compelling evidence that a well designed street plan with landscape protected bike/mobility lanes is both feasible and essential for North Lake Avenue. With this plan the city would reduce collisions by an estimated 35%, saving lives and millions of dollars over the next decade, while preserving traffic flow with little effect on parking. The two travel lanes and most turn lanes will be retained, and 97% of all available parking is already in adjacent lots. Mindfully, no-one is suggesting road diets here!

The increase in drought, heat waves, species extinction, and extreme weather tell us we must make big changes in allocating the resources of this beautiful planet. But unfortunately, DOT’s recommended plan for North Lake comes up short in fulfilling the city’s mobility and climate action goals. Instead of clutching on to “car centric“ thinking, DOT could see North Lake as the perfect opportunity to show that with inclusive street design, everyone wins! Pedestrians of all abilities, motorists, service vehicles, and people on bikes and scooters could all safely reach social agency, transit, and business destinations. At the same time the city can keep its promises of safety for all street users, mobile equity, and greenhouse gas reduction. We know this is definitely possible, because many cities have already improved safety, economic vitality, and traffic flow by adding protected bike lanes.

Our elected city leaders should insist that DOT provide the best street design options based on the latest traffic science and research. But in their presentation last Tuesday night, it appears many useful street design options are being ignored. These would include, reallocation of unused center lane street space, eliminating unneeded street parking, paratransit loading islands, and loading zone access timed to lighter traffic intervals. A “Quick Build” implementation of street design using low cost materials like street paint, bollards, and planters could provide a temporary installation, where the public could use and evaluate a design before it is made permanent. Innovative solutions such as these have been successful in other cities nationwide, so why can’t DOT apply them in Pasadena?

Furthermore, DOT’s metrics and evaluation of the bike lane options appear to be both flawed and misleading. Their presentation made no mention of how bike lanes dramatically improve safety for all users, reduce traffic congestion, increase property values, fight climate change, provide street user equity, reduce crime, save money on public health, and promote local businesses. If one should doubt this, just google “benefits of bike lanes” for a plethora of articles and research.

If one says “OK bike lanes are great, but why on North Lake” the answer is clear “because that is where the destinations are.” To enable the many folks who are interested in using bikes for local mobility, but are concerned about safety, we need a broad safe network of bike lanes that connect North Lake Avenue to the Lake Station and to the planned Union Street Cycle Track and Cordova Bike lanes. With these new projects, DOT is moving in the right direction. We need a similar innovative street design on North Lake Avenue!

With the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, concerns over traffic congestion, and the high cost of automobile ownership, our city leaders should direct DOT to deliver crucial integrated bike infrastructure on North Lake Avenue and throughout our city, now, more than ever!

Cary Belling is a violist, composer, and safe streets activist. He is a member of Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition and the Washington Square Neighborhood Association.