Temple City's Elected Officials Unanimously Vote to Transform Las Tunas Drive into "Complete Street"12/28/2012  Class I/II Bike Lanes to come to Temple City Temple City hosted two meetings over the past couple of months to gather community input for the Las Tunas Drive revitalization project. A third and final meeting was held on Thursday, December 27, 2012 with over four hours of presentations, public comment and discussion. Elected officials in Temple City underlined the need to reinvent the City's stagnant downtown by unanimously voting to select the most innovative design concept - "Alternative 3" - which proposes to dramatically transform the City's historic downtown into a more vibrant, people-friendly district. Key Improvements for the new Las Tunas Drive:
Several dozen members of the public weighed in on the project during the public comment session of Thursday's meeting, including almost a dozen BikeSGV organizers, supporters and health advocates. The addendum to the Council agenda also revealed that there was an outpouring of email communication submitted in favor of Alternative 3 prior to the meeting. Our sincerest thanks to those who made the time over the busy holidays to attend and speak at the meeting - Jenny Wu, Vu Le, Jonathan Edwards, Efren Moreno, Vincent Chang, Melissa-Preciado Hernandez, Andrew Yip, Javier Hernandez and more. Collectively your voices had a major impact! Indeed, the Council appeared to give serious consideration to watering down the project until they heard your feedback and personal stories. In conjunction with the Rosemead Blvd. Project, which includes Class I Protected Bike Paths or "cycletracks" in both directions, the Las Tunas Drive Project will create an axis of bike-friendly business districts in Temple City, with both major commercial corridors in town incorporating designated road space for cyclists. When completed, the projects will set a number of firsts in the San Gabriel Valley, including first Class I on-street "cycletrack" and first Class II bicycle lane through a community's central business district (to date the few bicycle lanes in the SGV have avoided downtowns). BikeSGV would like to congratulate all the City staff, residents, public health advocates, consultants, elected leaders and other stakeholders whose hard work, feedback, and time made this decision a reality. Your commitment to a more bicycle-friendly Temple City has placed the City on the cusp of becoming the leader in bike planning and infrastructure in the San Gabriel Valley, a truly remarkable development when considering that the City's first bicycle master plan was only adopted in March 2010! We encourage members of the public to thank staff and the City Council for their leadership by sending them a quick email (sample form here).
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 On the Thursday, December 27th the Temple City Council will decide among three visions for Las Tunas Dr. Each of the conceptual designs include bike lanes, but “Alternative 3” would most dramatically transform the corridor into a vibrant, people-friendly downtown for the City.
Key elements of Alternative 3 include the use of back-in angle parking, which improves drivers’ sightlines when parking, makes it easier to pull in and out of parking spots, and eliminates the risk of “dooring” for cyclists. Alternative 3 would also narrow and reduce number of travel lanes in the City’s historic downtown from 5 to 3 (one in each direction plus a center turning lane), shorten crossing distances for pedestrians via bulb-outs, add additional pedestrian crossings on long blocks where none currently exist, move bus stops to the far side of intersections to improve traffic flow, plant canopy trees in medians and sidewalks, and allow businesses to utilize angle parking spaces for outdoor dining/seating areas. It is critical that members of the public who support the proposed pedestrian, bicycle and transit improvements weigh in by email and/or in person on 12/27, especially those that live or shop in Temple City, or would visit if it became a model community for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users! Comments can be made in person (meeting begins at 7pm) or submitted via email. Sample talking points and a template letter of support can be found on our Take Action page. For more info about the Las Tunas Project, visit the City’s project website.  River Path Access Remains Fenced Off Metro recently opened a gleaming, state-of-the-art transportation center and bus station in the City of El Monte. As a whole, the new station is a wonderful leap forward for the region's growing public transportation network. Not only is it capable of serving 30,000 plus passengers a day and allowing buses direct access to the 10 freeway busway, it has incorporated elements such as a Metro Bicycle Hub that will soon further encourage active transportation. The station is also located along a local bicycle highway, the Rio Hondo River bike path, which should make it easily accessible to cyclists from around the region. Yet access to the station from the adjacent bike path is currently fenced off. BikeSGV urges Metro and local decision-makers to address this issue, and you can too by signing our online petition. Let local decision-makers know you support safe, direct access for bicyclists to the new El Monte Transit Center, act now by clicking below!  |
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