Main Street in Venice could see an expanded set of bike lanes, as outlined in a proposal presented by members of the LADOT Bike Program to the Venice Neighborhood Council last night, according to Yo! Venice. The presentation demonstrated via maps that Main Street is currently "the 'missing link' in connecting the bicycle network in west Venice," notes the LADOT Bike Blog. "Bringing bike lanes to Main Street will a create strong, through connection for bicyclists in a way no other street in Venice can."
Extending the current bike lanes from Santa Monica and into Venice is part of what is called a "road diet," a term the LADOT Bike Blog explains:
A “road diet” is typically comprised of converting a 2-way, 4 lane street into a 3 lane street with bike lanes on either side. One travel lane goes in each direction while the center lane is marked as a “two-way left turn lane” (TWLTL). Road diets are often planned to coincide with a scheduled repaving of a street, and thus come at little cost to the City because the road being repaved would need to be re-striped anyhow.
The Main Street "road diet," is still in its preliminary stages, but could see support from Venice residents. Yo! Venice is enthused: "Seems like a no brainer, so we hope the VNC and greater Venice community supports it."
