LB city staff say Wardlow bike lanes are still a work in progress

By: CJ Dablo
Staff Writer
Long Beach is still on its way to being a bike-friendlier city, but it doesn’t mean that everyone’s on the two-wheeled bandwagon, particularly in Wrigley Heights.
Back in May, the City of Long Beach completed one of the latest bike-lane projects along Wardlow Road near the Metro Blue Line Station near Pacific Place. Following the curve of the street, workers had created a new lane by marking it off with evenly spaced bright green bollards. A sign on the westbound side of the street points towards the LA River path.
The businesses on the northwest corner of Wardlow Road and Pacific Place have built their own community in a tiny strip mall with an even smaller triangle-shaped parking lot. There are only a few businesses— a donut shop, a laundromat and a restaurant— but parking is in short supply. The Wardlow Station for the Blue Line sits across the street, and savvy commuters who couldn’t snag a spot at the main station have parked their cars along Pacific Place, one side of the triangle-shaped lot. Any parking along Wardlow Road, the other leg of the triangle, has been eliminated.
Although at least two of the business owners were told a few days in advance that a bicycle lane was about to be built and that parking would be eliminated along Wardlow Road, they weren’t expecting a bike lane so quickly.
Wrigley Heights residents, like Richard Gutmann, weren’t pleased at the sight. He said he had already been very concerned about traffic on that corner so close to the Wardlow Metro Blue Line Station.
Gutmann noted that another traffic light had recently been installed farther east on Wardlow Road at Pacific Avenue, a little over a block away from Pacific Place. In an interview with the Signal Tribune, he criticized the placement of the new bike lanes that now would take even more space from the commuting automobiles.
“The City just doesn’t seem to care,” Gutmann said. “We complain to them, and somehow they have this idea that!everybody is going to get out of their car and onto a bicycle, and it’s just not working.”
Long Beach’s Bicycle Master Plan for the next 25 years took into account that not everybody could be on two wheels, but the plan had been designed to help people of all ages conclude that bicycling would be the easiest way to get around. The Long Beach City Council passed the plan in February, but bike lanes throughout the city had already been built and planned for many years prior to that time.
The City staff had already conducted several community events, focus groups and other outreach activities throughout each of the nine districts prior to the city council’s adoption of the Bicycle Master Plan that is expected to envision the City’s bike future through the year 2040.
Gutmann isn’t alone in his criticism of the new bike lanes. Vernon Rudd, another Wrigley Heights resident, does bike recreationally, but he’s not using the bike lanes to commute. When the Long Beach retiree decides to hop on two wheels, he usually follows the bike path that follows the LA River to the beach. He also didn’t see the need for the new bike lanes on Wardlow and noted that a new signal off that street and Pacific Avenue has caused increased traffic.
A reporter for the Signal Tribune spent more than hour observing the evening rush-hour traffic on that corner a few weeks after the bike lanes were installed. Bicyclists headed both westbound and eastbound on Wardlow streamed through the intersection. The reporter didn’t observe any gridlock that evening, however both Gutmann and Rudd have described major traffic congestion at other times of the day.
Pushback against new bike lanes is not new for the City’s staff. Long Beach City Traffic Engineer Eric Widstrand has seen his share of criticism of any new bike-lane project.
His division in the City’s Public Works Department is coming up with a solution— limiting the time for parking along Pacific Place to one or two hours. There will have to be some negotiation there for the train commuters who chose to park along Pacific Place. During the evening hours, the parking lots across the street closer to the station were pretty full.
“But it is something that is a work in progress,” Widstrand said, acknowledging that his division has now talked with some of the businesses about the concerns over parking. He added that any plans to change parking along Pacific Place still need to be finalized but could not at this time estimate how long it will take to complete those plans.
“We do anticipate having those revised parking solutions out there eventually,” Widstrand said.
Narin Eng, the owner of 7 Star Donut on the other end of the parking lot, described in an interview with the Signal Tribune how the bike lanes were really inconveniencing him. Usually, customers who wanted to drop by his shop for a donut or a hot drink in the morning previously could park on Wardlow, pop into his shop and leap back into the car in minutes. Now, that isn’t possible. He further wondered where the delivery trucks would park when he needed new supplies.
“There are not a lot of bicycles around here,” Eng said, adding that when bike lanes are planned like the one just outside his storefront, that design “kills” his business.
Sylvia Padilla, owner of Guadalupe’s Mexican Grill, described how the new bike lanes affected her own business. She had already heard the traffic engineer’s solution to set a time limit to park on Pacific Place, which stretches past her restaurant. Padilla is open to that possibility, but she hopes that it happens soon.
“Hopefully they can do something about it,” Padilla said, “because it’s not looking good for me right now.”
Padilla even hoped that the City would redesign the bike lanes. She liked the ones near downtown that allowed cyclists to travel through the street median, protected by cars parked in the middle of the street.
“I’m sure the City could do something about it,” Padilla said, adding that she is confident that the City can find a creative solution for all parties involved. “Just to keep everybody happy.”
Tony Cruz, a community programs specialist for Long Beach’s mobility team, acknowledges that there are lessons learned on the City’s side. While outreach had already been done to the surrounding communities, Cruz described how there was still room for improvement to have more public outreach on an individual basis.
He also emphasized the need to inform those who may not be familiar with the new lanes or even the bike-sharing program, adding that “with a little more education, we can try and help ensure that it’s just safer in general for everybody out on the road.”
Both Widstrand and Cruz emphasized that just because the bike lane on Wardlow has been installed, the city staff will still continue to monitor the traffic and how the bike lanes are being used. They also both acknowledged that the City isn’t considering wholly redesigning the Wardlow Road bike lanes, but there is room to make some minor adjustments with feedback from commuters and residents.
For more information or to express concerns about bike lanes, residents may contact the General Traffic Engineering line at (562) 570-6331 or download the Go, Long Beach app.