Tag Archives: #lametro

Raising Speed Limits a Disaster for Anyone Not in a Car

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-speed-limits-20181129-story.html

Lit up like a Xmas tree with the blogger

Really dismayed to see this story in today’s Los Angeles Times. Chandler Boulevard, around the block from where I live, is a major bike route — the initial or final leg (depending on which way you’re going) to the Orange Line Bike Path, which is not separated from city streets between Coldwater Canyon and the North Hollywood Metro Station.

Drivers already use this stretch of Chandler as a freeway or even a dragstrip. The speed limit near my house is 40 mph. I’ve often thought there’s little chance I’d survive getting hit by a car going 40-45 mph as I cycle in the bike lane. This street also borders NoHo High School which hundreds of kids cross every school day. How is this good for them?

Raising speed limits so the police can issue more speeding tickets seems like a really dumb idea. At what price – to everyone? What they need to do is build totally separated bike lanes on this road. Either that or I’m riding on the sidewalk now (which is, btw, legal to do in the city of Los Angeles).

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Expo Line This Much Closer to an Opening

Really, time for a post on something other than “Kept.”

Here is the latest I’ve seen about the imminent opening of the extension of the Expo Line light rail to Santa Monica. As the tweet says, not today but soon. It’s done. It’s just testing now.

The Blogger at an Orange Line stop, waiting patiently.

The Blogger at an Orange Line stop, waiting patiently.

So this is pretty exciting, right?  We have that Orange Line connection to the Van Nuys Flyaway, we’ve got the Gold Line extension to Azusa opening March 5, and now light rail to the true end of the line (blocks from the beach) in Santa Monica, should be open in time for summer, if not before (come on guys, it’s done, let’s open it up by April).

I realize it’s a transport nerd post and not much more. But the truth is, for a city that has long been defined by the automobile, Los Angeles is continually making great strides toward being transit-friendly.

It makes me happy.

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