As many of you know Federal funding is not only critical for funding our roads and bridges, it is also vital for funding facilities for biking and walking.  The transportation budget is large…over $80 billion dollars. And we are asking for just a small portion of this (about 1%) to go towards transportation alternatives including biking and waking.

The current budget bill that funds these Federal Department of Transportation programs is going through the Senate and our Senator, Barbara Boxer is the ranking member of the transportation committee. 

As bicyclists in Southern California we see the benefits of these Federal Transportation dollars every day.  Most recently these dollars have been used locally to fund the repaving and soon to be completed buffered bike lanes on Westminster.  They have funded the separated lanes in downtown Long Beach, the Vista Street Bike Boulevard, the soon to be repaved and restriped bike lanes on Bellflower and the repaving of the river trail.  Further to the south they have funded the bike lanes in Dana Point and the new buffered lanes that will soon be installed between Dana Point and San Clemente. They fund our Safe Routes to School Education program and our community safety programs.  All of these programs are helping to make cycling better and safer for everyone in Southern California.

Please click here or go to the bottom of this e-mail and click on the link that will take you to the League of American Bicyclist site where you can send our two senators your request for their support of this important bill (it actually takes two links to get to the site for the letter).

Thanks in advance for your support of this important legislation.  And please…let me know if you have any questions regarding how these dollars are being spent in Southern California.

Allan Crawford

Executive Director, BIKEable Communities

Read more »

For the most recent information on the El Dorado Park Race Series including results, go to the .

For general information on the series, the location and schedule see below.
Read more »

Riding in the dark….need a light!!!!

How often have you been out in the early morning or in the evening and encountered someone bicycling without a light.  Or maybe you have done it.  You know it’s not safe, but people do it anyway. Some do it because they just haven’t gone out to buy lights.  Some do it because the ones they have is broken. And for some it is financial.

Our friends at the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) don’t care why people don’t have lights…they just want to make sure they get them.

The LACBC’s Operation Firefly is a program funded by the Laemmle Foundation to distribute lights throughout LA County.  Several evenings each week a crew of LACBC volunteers is somewhere in LA County handing out lights.

Read more »

As bicyclists we are all too well aware – bikes interacting with high speed vehicles can be a recipe for disaster for the bicyclist.

A recent traffic engineering development, where signals automatically go to red in all four directions when there is no traffic…and go to red if vehicles are approaching the intersection at a speed above the speed limit helps reduce traffic speeds making it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.

The City of Long Beach recently installed several of these lights to help slow traffic in areas where we have higher pedestrian and bike traffic along with vehicles that frequently travel above the posted speed limit.

This short video shows how one of these signals on Wardlow Road works.

Where would you like to see these lights installed?

Janette Sadik-Khan, the former transportation commissioner for the City of New York, is now working with LA to help not only envision what the city could be…but to help make it more livable  by changing the way people move throughout the city and interact in people friendly spaces.

As commissioner she championed the very successful NYC bike share program and she famously led an effort to make the city more livable by creating more space for pedestrians (and bicyclists) in highly congested areas such as Time Square.

In this KPCC interview Ms Sadik-Khan talks about smart strategies for cities like LA (and Long Beach) to grow in affordable, sustainable ways. Ways that improve the quality of life for residents and are a sound economic development strategy.

Below are a few excerpts from her conversation with KPCC’s Ben Burgman (BB).

Read more »

Almost three years ago the City of Long Beach put in two roundabouts and five smaller traffic circles on Vista Street as part of making it a bike boulevard. Since installing the roundabouts and circles overall traffic accidents have fallen by over 50% and accidents at the two major intersections where roundabouts were installed have dropped by 75%.

In spite of this dramatic decrease there are people who argue that the roundabouts are unsafe because of the height of the landscaping (a 6 foot high pampas grass is used for decorative landscaping and to intentionally limit sight distance).  They argue that the landscaping limits sight distances and thus makes the intersections more dangerous.  As is discussed in the letter to the editor shown below, while this argument seems logical, in fact the reverse is true.  The landscaping focuses the drivers attention to the left and right where vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists are entering the intersection resulting in a safer intersection.

Let us know if you are facing opposition to various types of bike infrastructure and what you are doing to counter those arguments.

Read more »

One September 16, 2014 California’s 3 foot law goes into effect.  The law requires that motorists give bicyclists at least 3 feet of clearance when passing.

The intent of the law is to make is safer for bicyclists to use our streets and roadways.  Anyone who rides a bicycle is aware of the danger of a vehicle that passes to closely.  If the motorist or the bicyclist makes just a small move when the vehicle is too close the bicyclists safety can be put in jeopardy.

Read more »