3 October 2023
Honorable Bill Brand
Mayor, Redondo Beach
415 Diamond Street
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Re: N2, Manhattan Beach Blvd resurfacing and bicycle facilities Dear Honorable Mayor Brand, City Council Members, and Staff, I want to urge the city to plan for the safest bicycle infrastructure possible, which includes protected bike lanes with physical barriers between vulnerable cyclists and fast-moving traffic.
We need only look at the recent death of Maia Correia in Oakland, CA to see the danger of door-zone bike lanes.
https://oaklandside.org/2023/08/31/child-tragic-death-lakeshore-avenue-lack-of-protected-bi ke-lanes-oakland/
On nearby Rosecrans Blvd, bicycle commuters have been killed by drivers running them over from behind and even a drunk driver that veered across several lanes to hit a bicyclist head-on.
While no protection is perfect, physical concrete barriers, or parking-protected bike lanes, could have saved their lives.
I bike this corridor often enroute to weekly shopping at Trader Joe’s on MB and Aviation Blvds and to the train station via Vail Ave and MB Blvd. At both locations, two-stage turn queue bicycle boxes would make my crossings much safer and more convenient. https://nacto.org/publication/urban-bikeway-design-guide/intersection-treatments/two-stageturn-queue-boxes/ Without them, I can’t convince my neighbors to join me in bicycling to these destinations.
Culver City installed them at the intersections of Culver and Washington & Culver and Duquesne. They take some of the fear and hassle out of crossing wide boulevards.
Grace Peng, PhD