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Bicyclists, rejoice! Northeast L.A. (meaning mostly Eagle Rock and Highland Park) is the first in a citywide program to get a Bicycle Friendly Business District (BFBD).
What that means is the city of L.A. is working with local businesses to promote bike-riding friendliness, such as building bicycle racks and repair stations in front of stores, giving discounts to bike-riders and providing incentives to employees who commute on their bikes, according to LADOT Bike Blog. The city will also be adding bikeway maps and signs on the streets. The ultimate goal is to build a biking community and make streets less congested, while increasing business for store owners.
L.A. is first focusing on the primary business corridors such as Colorado Boulevard, York Boulevard, Eagle Rock Boulevard, and N. Figueroa Street. The info gathered from studying the district's impact on Northeast L.A. will help launch other programs throughout the city in 2015 to 2016.
Northeast L.A. was first chosen to helm the pilot program because it's already more bike-friendly than most neighborhood; they've recently implemented a road diet, added bike lanes, and installed the first bike corral on York Boulevard.
Here's a map of Northeast L.A.'s bikeways:
Map of Northeast L.A. bikeways (Image via LADOT Bike Blog)
Local businesses have already agreed to be responsible for maintaining bicycle corrals and repair stations in the area. The map below shows which shops have pledged to pay for the upkeep of bike-friendly programs:
(Image via LADOT Bike Blog)
The city says the idea for the district came from our neighbors Santa Monica and Long Beach. This looks like a good start! It gives us hope that one day we might be as bike-friendly as Portland, though that might take awhile. Let's keep on peddling, L.A.
