Bicycle Fixation Weblog
[Previous entry: "Workaday Bicycles"] [Next entry: "Offsite Blogging XXII"]
07/18/2011: "Build It, and They Do Come!"
A while ago I posted an entry on this blog celebrating the arrival of new bike racks on the Miracle Mile, the stretch of Wilshire where we live. This was in large part in response to suggestions I made to the LADOT (that is, I nagged them)--and they responded admirably, putting in more racks than I had suggested.The next question was, Would people actually use the racks? This bit of road is not very bike-friendly, suffering from heavy traffic (it's one of the busiest roadways in the US) and an often horrible road surface.
But it turns out that the racks are hugely popular!
Here's a photo the racks in front of the Museum Square building on a typical day:
What you don't see are the numerous other bikes locked to parking meters up and down the street.
Across the road from this rack, in the stepped brown edifice you see in the background, are four more wave racks for building customers and employees, heavily used (and supplemented by more racks in the parking structure).
Down at the corner are LADOT markings showing where two more racks will go, in front of the new upscale burger joint--and around the corner from that are what seem to be privately-installed racks of a design I've not seen before; here's a shot:
Soon we will probably have freshly-paved rush-hour bus/bike lanes passing through. That should get even more people to come here by bike.
Los Angeles is not a nimble city when it comes to changing its traffic habits, but we are making some progress after all.
