Spring Turns Green as New Bike Lane Gets Its Color
Simon Hartigan
The new Spring Street bicycle lane next to the Alexandria at 5th and Spring. The lane runs from Cesar Chavez to 9th.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The Historic Core is getting a big splash of green this weekend as crews from the city's transportation department install Spring Street's new buffered bike lane between Cesar Chavez and 9th.
The lane's opening will be celebrated in a press conference on Monday afternoon.
Update (Monday, 3pm): Our story from this afternoon's press conference is now published.
Work has moved quickly since plans for the lane were first revealed in late October. Scraping and restriping began last weekend.
The 6-foot-wide green lane will be bordered by a four-foot buffer separating cyclists from traffic.
As part of the change, peak hour parking restrictions will go away on the west side of Spring Street. Space along that curb were previously turned into a bus lane between 7 and 9am and between 4 and 6pm.
Downtowncommuter on November 19, 2011, at 11:07AM – #1
Eric -- I can't tell from the pix but is it simply green paint, or is it thick green reflective paint like used for road striping...or is it that thick latex they use in street walks?
I ask because the latter two are very slick for cyclists -- especially when wet.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on November 19, 2011, at 11:29AM – #2
It's paint, but I know DOT has been putting a lot of time into testing out a bunch of different materials to see what performs best while wet. I would assume it's paint that includes some sort of a mixed-in material to keep grip.
I'll look into that more on Monday.
Ginny Brideau (@ginnycase) on November 19, 2011, at 12:48PM – #3
Wy wait for Monday? Somebuddy getoutthe da hose and try it! YouTube! YouTube!
Chris Loos on November 19, 2011, at 01:02PM – #4
Just went out to take some photos of the new lane, and was disappointed to see that some drivers had decided to ignore the cones, and cut across the newly painted lanes, smudging green paint into the parking lane as. Well as the auto lanes.
Never underestimate the stupidity of people.
Simon Hartigan on November 19, 2011, at 01:23PM – #5
Chris is right, my perception toward drivers in LA just got downgraded, a total amateur hour. If I offended any drivers of cars out there by this comment... good. That being said, I was actually up late last night and saw them painting, as the paint was still wet they seemed to be dusting some sort of sand down on top of the paint manually. The good news, this lane is almost finished and that along with the 24/h parking/loading/parklet lane to the right of it, Spring Street will now have less capacity for cars...good.
Bert Green (@bgfa) on November 19, 2011, at 03:52PM – #6
The "dust" that they spread on the freshly painted surface is actually fine glass beads that make the surface reflective to headlights. Should be quite an effect at night.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on November 19, 2011, at 04:31PM – #7
A coworker and I just took a walk into east LA and went down 1st St. where the other new green lane is being installed. It is super gritty (and super reflective, as Bert mentioned). I wouldn't doubt that it holds more traction when wet than the rest of the road does.
xavier on November 20, 2011, at 11:10AM – #8
They could have built the bike lane next to the curbside and avoid the crossing of cars over the lane, like they did in New York City on 6th Ave.
Simon Hartigan on November 20, 2011, at 11:37AM – #9
xavier, The problem with that is you still need loading/unloading zones for the buildings. The only way that'd work out well is if the bike lane was physically separated with a curb and that costs more money and would have been harder to approve. Consider this round 1, it will only get better. Soon to come are parklets between 6th and 7th on Spring and I'm sure more to follow. These will be mini parks in the space of a parking spot or two. Spring St is definitely coming alive and turning into a very pleasant place to be.
film rob on November 20, 2011, at 11:56AM – #10
Love bike lanes, this looks like shit. guess no filming commercials on the street anymore. Love the tacky grey. hate being this way but it's money spent.
Chris Loos on November 20, 2011, at 12:15PM – #11
I wish. My biggest pet peeve with living down here is the constant interruptions with daily routines due to filming.
Also, I heard from a couple people I spoke to on Spring yesterday that it was a film crew truck that drove through the cones and smudged the bike lane. Thanks Hollywood!
Downtowncommuter on November 20, 2011, at 01:59PM – #12
Thanks, Hollywood, indeed -- for keeping many tax-paying people employed at high wages.
pedal.there on November 21, 2011, at 06:37AM – #13
When you use the bike lanes this morning you will notice that most of the areas where the green paint is already worn away is also where there were film crews camped out. Clearly, the paint didn't have much time to dry before they were all over it doing their "work". I know the rain didn't help either... I think film crews should be restricted to using parking lots rather than their current practice of parking along the street and putting up cones. This is just one issue in a long list, but it will help to make bike travel along spring safer.
Chris Loos on November 21, 2011, at 09:17AM – #14
Clearly someone screwed up. There absolutely should not have been film crew trucks and equipment parked along Spring Street on the same day that the lane was being painted. Doesn't FilmLA coordinate between the studios and LADOT? What went wrong here?
LAofAnaheim on November 21, 2011, at 10:45AM – #15
Love the new bike lanes and can't wait to try them out when my bike is out of the shop this weekend. But, my only concern is that the new bike lane will be used by northbound bike riders as well as the southbounders. As there is no similar bike lane on Main street, some people will think of this as a 2-way bike lane..........and low and behold, that's what I saw around 9 pm yesterday at 6th/Spring, somebody was biking northbound on the bike lanes. We need Main street painted ASAP.
Also, the bike lanes should have been put on the eastside of Spring, not westside, as buses will need to be constantly cross over to pick up passengers. Long Beach had the foresight to know that bus crossovers would be an issue so they put the bike lanes on the opposite sides of the street. Funny at first but know everybody appreciates it. Let's hope Main street gets the bike lanes on the westside of the street and not eastside.
pedal.there on November 22, 2011, at 08:07AM – #16
Bike lane OCCUPIED by film crew the entire block between 4th and 5th this morning. Lame.