STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: October 3, 2023
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
From: Daren Grilley, Assistant Director Public Works/City Engineer Jessie Holzer Carpenter, PTP, Transportation Planner
Subject:
Attachments:
Beverly Boulevard Bike Lanes
1. Holistic Bikeways Network Map
2. Cyclist Counts on Beverly Boulevard
3. Bike Lane Design
4. Public Notices
INTRODUCTION
This report provides an update on installation of bike lanes on Beverly Boulevard between North Santa Monica Boulevard and Doheny Drive. This project does not remove any travel lanes or on-street parking.
BACKGROUND
On April 20, 2021, City Council adopted the Complete Streets Plan that outlines a long-range vision for improving mobility in Beverly Hills. The Complete Streets Plan, which is available on the City’s website at www.beverlyhills.org/completestreets, includes a Holistic Bikeways Network Map (Attachment 1) to serve as a blueprint for new bikeways.
Beverly Boulevard is identified as a proposed bikeway in the City’s Complete Streets Plan. This bikeway connects with existing bike lanes on North Santa Monica Boulevard, an existing bike route on North Palm Drive as part of the Minimum Grid Network, and planned bike lanes on Beverly Boulevard in the City of West Hollywood, thus closing a critical gap in the regional bicycle network.
DISCUSSION
Beverly Boulevard between North Santa Monica Boulevard and Doheny Drive is classified as a Principal Arterial with a posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour, though 85th percentile speeds range from 35-40 miles per hour. There are approximately 23,000 vehicles and an average of 53 cyclists traveling on Beverly Boulevard every day (Attachment 2).
BEVERLY
HILLS
-~
Meeting Date: October 3, 2023
The 60-foot-wide street has two travel lanes in each direction and a center turn lane along most of the segment. Most of the adjacent land use is residential with no driveways directly connecting to Beverly Boulevard. In the westbound direction, the two travel lanes become a double left turn lane onto North Santa Monica Boulevard and the street widens to 68 feet to provide one westbound through pocket onto northbound North Palm Drive.
Between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2022, there have been a total of 42 collisions on this segment of Beverly Boulevard. All but one of these collisions were injury collisions. The top three primary collision factors include drivers violating right-of-way, failing to obey traffic signs and signals, and traveling at an unsafe speed. Two of these collisions involved bicyclists and four of them involved pedestrians (available data does not specify the party at fault).
Bike lanes on Beverly Boulevard will not result in any reduction in the number of vehicle travel lanes, turn lanes, or on-street parking spaces, as there is currently no on-street parking along this segment.
Design for bike lanes on Beverly Boulevard is shown in Attachment 3. By narrowing the existing 12-foot travel lanes to 10-feet wide and the existing center turn lane to 9-feet wide, 5.5-foot bike lanes can be added. 5-foot bike lanes can be provided in both directions near the intersection with North Santa Monica Boulevard with a 9-foot through pocket onto North Palm Drive.
A “bike box” in front of the northbound through pocket will allow cyclists who approach the intersection with North Santa Monica Boulevard at a red light to position themselves in front of the vehicle for a safer transition onto Palm Drive or North Santa Monica Boulevard, as they would be more visible to drivers and would not have to merge with traffic. This treatment has worked well on eastbound North Santa Monica Boulevard at Doheny Drive for approximately five years.
Narrowing the existing travel lanes to include bike lanes will also help address resident-reported concerns of excessive vehicle speeds on Beverly Boulevard. Additionally, as part of this project electronic driver speed feedback signs will be installed to encourage people to travel at safer speeds within the posted speed limit.
Due to the high vehicle speeds and volumes on Beverly Boulevard, the bike lanes will be enhanced similar to those on North Santa Monica Boulevard, with solid green pavement marking with dashed green conflict markings across intersections and alleys. Staff also plans to test installing narrow delineators on the bike lane lines to create protected bike lanes without a reduction in travel lanes soon after installing the pavement markings.
Traffic and Parking Commission Feedback
Staff presented conceptual design of bike lanes on Beverly Boulevard at the September 7, 2023, Traffic and Parking Commission meeting. 25 community members spoke in support of the project, and three spoke against it.
Reasons for support included Beverly Boulevard’s connections with three other bikeways to create a holistic network and that the project is a “win-win,” as it improves safety with no tradeoffs with vehicle infrastructure. Several commenters in support requested that the bike lanes be protected for increased separation of travel modes.
Reasons for opposition included perceived lack of bicycle connectivity, concerns about impacts to vehicle traffic, and safety concerns. Some commenters in opposition also suggested the bike Meeting Date: October 3, 2023
lanes should be protected for increased separation of travel modes, which will be tested without impacting the number of travel lanes as noted above.
The Commission passed a motion 3-1 (one Commissioner was absent) to recommend City Council approval of bike lane installation this year due to the safety benefits for cyclists, drivers, and pedestrians, including reduced speeding and increased separation between travel modes.
One Commissioner expressed concerns with damaged sections of concrete where the bike lanes would be placed and suggested the bike lanes be installed after street reconstruction.
Public Works staff have begun making repairs to address the damaged concrete and this will be completed prior to installation.
Public Noticing
To advise residents of the September 7, 2023, Traffic and Parking Commission meeting, the City mailed a Citywide notice to over 28,000 properties and sent an e-notice to over 1,000 stakeholders. Additionally, the City included the information from the notice in newspaper ads published in the Beverly Press, Beverly Hills Courier, and Beverly Hills Weekly; on social media posts; and on A-frame signs placed along the segment (two signs per block). Copies of public notices are in Attachment 4.
Next Steps
As the proposed bike lanes would have safety benefits for all road users, with no negative impacts for drivers, staff plans to incorporate them into the ongoing Citywide pavement marking project for installation this fall. Prior to installation, the City will mail construction notices to residents within 1,000 feet of the project and place A-frame signage with project details on every block. Following installation of the pavement markings, City crews will install driver speed feedback signs in each direction of Beverly Boulevard. Protected bike lane delineators will be installed following selection and testing of delineating traffic control devices. As stated above, the installation of protected bike lanes will not result in a reduction of the number of travel lanes.
Environmental Review
This project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301(c), Existing Facilities, which exempts minor alterations to existing highways and streets that do not create additional automobile lanes on existing highways and streets. Prior to installation, staff will file the Notice of Exemption with Los Angeles County and the State.
FISCAL IMPACT
Installation of bike lanes on Beverly Boulevard is estimated to cost approximately $10,000.
Funding is available in the approved budgets for the Annual Street Sign and Striping CIP (No. 00863) and Complete Streets CIP (No. 00100).
RECOMMENDATION
This report is for information only.
Shana Epstein,
Director of Public Works
Approved By
Attachment 1
Complete Streets Plan: Holistic Bikeways Network Map
,
(
• IJIICl:BH ¥' lfflll 90210 lfflll
I!!!
I .
~n ) I i . .. ~
I Wlls~ir
__J
Legend
Existn11 Bi e Fadliti&s ~p0$edl Bille Fadlitie-s
-- Eidsting Bike Lanes (aass II) • • • Piroposed Bike Lane.s (aass II) -- E:dsti ng Bike R.outes (a.ass Ill) • • • Piroposed Bike Boulevard (aas.s Ill) c1tv of LA & Olity of West Hollywood Futur,e Bike Facility --Piroposed Pirotected Bike Lane (aass IV) 1:,_
I!!!
E:idsti ng bl'ke parking
Existing bl'ke sh:.ve station
+ Piroposed lnters.,ectlon Qrossl ng neatment
• Purple Un@ Station
Transit Stop/Statiion
Metro Rapid Bus Stop
Attachment 2
CCTV Camera Counts of Cyclists on Beverly Boulevard
Date Number
08/01/23 47
08/02/23 63
08/03/23 80
08/04/23 57
08/05/23 64
08/06/23 34
08/07/23 40
08/08/23 45
08/09/23 50
08/10/23 69
08/11/23 29
08/12/23 34
08/13/23 58
08/14/23 49
08/15/23 54
08/16/23 65
08/17/23 44
08/18/23 68
08/19/23 73
08/20/23 7
08/21/23 60
08/22/23 57
08/23/23 55
08/24/23 37
08/25/23 60
08/26/23 53
08/27/23 66
08/28/23 56
08/29/23 70
08/30/23 49
08/31/23 61
Average 53
Attachment 3
N. Santa Monica Blvd
N Maple Dr
10’
5.5’
5.5’
10’
9’
10’
10’
10’
9’
5’
5’
10’
9’
10’
10’
Beverly Blvd
Bike Lane Design
N Maple Dr
N Palm Dr
Beverly Blvd
10’
5.5’
5.5’
10’
9’
10’
10’
Bike Lane Design
N Oakhurst Dr
N Palm Dr
Beverly Blvd
10’
5.5’
5.5’
10’
9’
10’
10’
Bike Lane Design
Doheny Dr
Beverly Hills
West Hollywood
Beverly Blvd
N Oakhurst Dr
10’
5.5’
5.5’
10’
9’
10’
10’
Bike Lane Design
Attachment 4
WHAT:
• Pavement spot repairs throughout the City.
•
WHAT:
WHEN:
WHERE:
MEETING NOTICE
City of Beverly Hills
Public Works Department
345 Foothill Road
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
www.beverlyhills.org
For questions:
Public Works Customer Service
Tel: 310.285.2467
Email: [email protected]
Traffic and Parking Commission
meeting to review proposed
conceptual design for bike lanes on
Beverly Blvd between North Santa
Monica Blvd and Doheny Dr
DATE: September 7, 2023
TIME: 9:00 a.m., or as soon there-
after as the matter may be
heard
The meeting will be held in City Hall
Room 280A, via telephone and
video conference. It will be
broadcast live on BHTV Channel 10
on Spectrum Cable and webcast live
at www.beverlyhills.org/watchlive
Project: Traffic and Parking
Commission Meeting –
Beverly Blvd Bike Lanes
Dear Community Member,
The Public Works Department invites your review of proposed conceptual design for bike lanes on Beverly Blvd between North Santa Monica Blvd and Doheny Dr.
Bike lanes on Beverly Blvd are recommended in the Complete Streets Plan, which was adopted by City Council in April 2021.
This project would not remove any travel lanes or on-street parking (Beverly Blvd does not have on-street parking along this segment).
Beverly Blvd Bike Lanes Project Area:
Beverly Blvd Bike Lanes Typical Cross-section:
MORE INFORMATION & PUBLIC COMMENT:
The Traffic and Parking Commission agenda and staff report with more information and images of the conceptual design options will be available by September 3, 2023 online at www.beverlyhills.org/TPCAgendas.
Persons wishing to comment on this item are invited to participate in the September 7, 2023 Traffic and Parking Commission meeting and/or submit written comments. Members of the public may listen to this meeting telephonically at (916) 235-1420 or (888) 468-1195 (participant code 105093). Public comment can be offered electronically prior to and during the meeting by emailing [email protected]. Oral public comment can be offered during the meeting by calling 310-288-2288. Any communication received by the City becomes part of the public record.
If you are an individual with a disability and need a reasonable modification or accommodation pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), please contact (310) 285-2467 prior to the meeting for assistance.
YOUR DOLLARS AT WORK
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
... ... . .... ~ .... . .
10' 10'
[l]C<lfliE
YOUR DOLLARS AT WORK
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
TRAFFIC AND PARKING
COMMISSION MEETING
To review proposed conceptual design for bike lanes on
Beverly Blvd between North Santa Monica Blvd and Doheny Dr THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2023
at 9:00 AM or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard City Hall Room 280-A or via telephone and video conference FOR QUESTIONS: 310-285-2467 or [email protected]
Beverly Blvd Bike Lones Typical Cross-section:
- ■ ■ -
[l]Dfl~
YOUR DOLLARS AT WORK
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
To review proposed conceptual design for bike lanes on Beverly Blvd between North Santa Monica Blvd and Doheny Dr
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2023
AT 9:00 AM
City Hall Room 280-A or via telephone and video conference FOR QUESTIONS: 310-285-2467 or [email protected]
Beverly Blvd Bike Lanes Project _______ Area: ........_ _______________ r-----.--._.,