Opinion: Promising Complete Streets Project Now a 'Monument to Half-Baked Efforts'

Matthew Fleischer, senior digital editor of the Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times and founder of its Livable City vertical, takes a strong position on Los Angeles bike infrastructure in a recent opinion piece.

In short: it isn't good enough.

Fleischer is mostly writing about the MyFigueroa complete streets project (see also the city's website for the MyFigueroa project), which in the decade since renderings that announced a potentially groundbreaking advancement in creating walkable and active public space (I wrote credulously on the subject in 2012) has transformed into a reality that Fleischer describes as a "monument to half-baked efforts."

Fleischer knows well the stakes of the choices made to provide people on bikes with safe facilities for riding around a city: he fell off his bike in Downtown Los Angeles and suffered a head injury.

"For bicyclists, walkers and, increasingly, scooter users, my story will hardly be surprising," writes Fleischer. "Yes, L.A. has bike lanes and pedestrian 'scrambles' and other 'alternative transit infrastructure' designed to protect vulnerable road users. But the infrastructure is spotty, badly maintained and confusing for drivers and cyclists. It can be almost as dangerous as no infrastructure at all."

Los Angeles' transit projects have also been accused of similar shortcomings in the past, as have projects in many other cities, and it's always a good time to consider whether a more complete commitment to allowing safe travel for more efficient modes would help deliver results that reflect ambitions.