(Photo by Allan Crawford)
It’s Green on the Ground Week, and we’re featuring green bike lanes and infrastructure across L.A. County. Today our volunteer and ride marshal Karl Eggers writes about the protected bike lanes on Broadway and 3rd Street in Downtown Long Beach, which include green paint in conflict zones.
Karl Eggers
I have been cycling through downtown Long Beach on Broadway (and its westbound twin, 3rd Street) going on 25 years now. For the first 19 years, I had to work with no bike lanes and traffic that seemed to be near highway speed as it passed through downtown on its way elsewhere (including entering or exiting the 710 freeway). But all that changed with the installation of protected bike lanes and green paint at all the points where bikes and cars cross paths. Now anyone with a bike can safely and confidently cycle through downtown without feeling like they are risking their life.
The Broadway protected bike lane stretches clear across downtown Long Beach, connecting the residential neighborhood east of Alamitos Avenue with the revitalized downtown area. The bike lane goes right by the Main Long Beach Library, City Hall, and the new, architecturally stunning, George Deukmejian Courthouse. It also passes by the Main Post Office, with mail boxes located right on the bike path making it convenient to drop off your mail without even having to dismount.
Dozens of restaurants and numerous community based art galleries are located along Broadway and the first block of the cross streets. There is a recently rebuilt and enlarged grocery store on Broadway, serving the growing number of residents living downtown. Speaking of residents, there are five new developments being constructed within 2 blocks of the bike lane to augment the hundreds of units completed in the last five years.
Share your favorite local green bike lanes around L.A. County with the hashtag #greenbikeLAnes, and join us for a lunchtime St. Patrick’s Day ride this Friday around Downtown L.A.