Despite concerns from residents in the area, Hermosa Beach will mark two new streets with lines intended to encourage use by cyclists.
The City Council voted 3-0 to approve the use of “sharrows” on Monterrey Blvd. and Longfellow Ave. at its Tuesday night meeting. (Council member Michael Divirgilio was not present.) The two approved last night will stretch along Monterrey between Herondo Ave. and 22nd St before dipping down to Hermosa Ave., and along Longfellow Ave. between bike path and Valley Drive.
The markings are the latest phase of the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan, which the city adopted in 2011. The plan is an effort among seven South Bay cities to add 213 miles of bikeable roadways to the existing 73 miles in the area. Sharrows, which are currently found along Hermosa Ave., are images of bicyclists painted periodically on street surfaces, with arrows indicating the direction of traffic. Unlike dedicated bike lanes, sharrows can be used by motorists and cyclists. The city chose the sharrow option in part because Hermosa’s narrow streets mean that installing bike lanes would require the removal of parking spots.
Although many of those present at the meeting questioned the safety of increasing bicycle traffic in the area, experts said that the painted figures actually increase safety of not only bicyclists, but motorists and pedestrians as well.
Scott Ma, a senior engineer with Hartzog and Crabill, Inc. working as a consultant on the project, said that the markings provide predictability, and encourage traffic to move at a safer speed.
“Sharrows channel bicyclists to those areas,” Ma said. “And there is a traffic calming effect.”
Not all residents felt the same.
“This idea is dangerous. It’s unsafe for bikes, for pedestrians, and for cars,” said Margaret Smaldone, a Hermosa resident living on an affected stretch of Longfellow. “Bicyclists think they own the lane, and cars can’t pass them without going over the median.”
Rae Devito told the council that the intersection near her home, where Highland Ave. dead-ends into Longfellow, was already very dangerous, and she worried about the effect of adding more cyclists. Devito said that their parked family car has been hit at least four times since buying the home in 1993, including one incident in which it was totalled.
Experience from other urban areas tend to conclude that sharrows increase safe behavior. One speaker cited a study of San Francisco’s sharrow program, which found that it decreased sidewalk riding by 35 percent, and wrong-way riding by 80 percent. Those two behaviors are to blame in many auto-vs.-bicycle accidents.
Many of the disputes confronting the council came down to enforcement issues. Speakers noted that bicyclists frequently ignore stop signs and other traffic regulations that they are obligated to follow.
“Bicyclists think they own the lane,” said Margaret Smaldone, a Hermosa resident living on an affected stretch of Longfellow. “You can’t pass them without going over the median.”
City Manager Tom Bakaly said that enforcement was an issue for both motorists and cyclists, and that city staff would encourage police to monitor key intersections as the project went forward.
George Schmeltzer, a former Hermosa city council member and mayor, urged the council to approve the plan to keep up with shifting transit attitudes.
“[Motorists] have had the last 100 years,” Schmeltzer said. “The next 100 will belong to people on foot and on bikes.”ER
