In July, town of L.A. hosted a groundbreaking occasion for its Reimagine Ventura Boulevard undertaking. The undertaking is positioned in Woodland Hills, on the western fringe of the San Fernando Valley, extending a half-mile between Royer Avenue and Sale Avenue. The town is eradicating two of Ventura’s six journey lanes (referred to as a street weight-reduction plan) to reallocate house so as to add extra on-street automobile parking.
L.A. Metropolis Councilmember Bob Blumenfield and town Transportation Division (LADOT) have been workshopping and finding out and designing this undertaking for a few years. Again in 2017, CiclaValley posted enthusiastically about how he hoped that protected bike lanes, then into consideration for Ventura, could be “a brand new mannequin for the remainder of Ventura Blvd.”
Blumenfeld and LADOT have tried to place a very good spin on the undertaking, calling it Reimagine Ventura Boulevard [Blumenfield project webpage, image-rich project storymap site] and drawing consideration to pedestrian “facilities” like “enhanced landscaping” and “enhanced crosswalks.” However the undertaking grew out of town’s Ventura Boulevard Diagonal Parking Feasibility Examine. Including extra parking encourages extra driving by making it simpler for extra drivers to drive extra typically to the realm.
LADOT lately tweeted touting the undertaking as “making Ventura Boulevard safer for cyclists and pedestrians.”
We’re making Ventura Blvd in #WoodlandHills safer for cyclists and pedestrians with the #ReimagineVentura undertaking! We have labored with Councilmember @BobBlumenfield to design a avenue undertaking that creates a way of place and serves considered one of LA’s most iconic Boulevards! #TheValley pic.twitter.com/nzS9WmtC1t
— LADOT (@LADOTofficial) August 29, 2022
However it’s troublesome to see the undertaking making Ventura Boulevard safer for cyclists. This stretch of Ventura already has unprotected bike lanes. The undertaking simply retains these present lanes.
The parking research analyzed protected bike lanes, however finally advisable towards them, as a result of extra automobile parking could possibly be squeezed in if town omitted really dedicating any house making Ventura any safer for bicyclists.
There are enhancements for pedestrians: “up to date sidewalks,” some bulb-outs at corners, some landscaped areas between some parking areas. Sure, the extra timber are a wanted and welcome addition. However when town is redoing curbs, why probably not broaden house allotted to strolling? If town is severe about supporting strolling (it’s not) then tasks like this could reallocate roadway house to wider sidewalks. Reimagine Ventura looks like a couple of pedestrian areas have been sprinkled amongst expanded parking, when a really pedestrian-priority undertaking ought to have some parking sprinkled amongst expanded house for strolling.
The town checked out a 100-foot extensive roadway, with 90 ft already devoted to automobiles (and 10 ft price of motorbike lane), and will hardly discover any house it might reallocate away from the automobiles. Shuffling house round from one automobile use (automobiles rushing via public house) to a different automobile use (automobiles stopped in public house) looks like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Particularly at a time when the local weather emergency is scorching the West Valley. On the time that is being written, a lot of Southern California is experiencing brutal document temperatures 10-18 levels hotter than standard. That document warmth is being pushed by greenhouse gasoline emissions, which for L.A. County, the vast majority of which come from the transportation sector, overwhelmingly from tailpipes from automobiles… extra of which can quickly be inspired to park alongside this stretch of Ventura Boulevard.
In considered one of L.A.’s extra car-centric suburban council districts, Councilmember Blumenfield has had a very good document on funding and finishing worthwhile multi-modal mobility tasks (together with Reseda Boulevard and Connecting Canoga Park), particularly bikeways (together with the L.A. River path and Winnetka lanes), which have been strategic. These different tasks have constructed out services that neatly join to increase present bus and bike networks.
Sadly, this stretch of Ventura Boulevard is a missed alternative, a step away from multi-modal options. There are optimistic points of the Reimagine Ventura Boulevard undertaking. It’s not terrible. It simply lacks… creativeness.
