City Staff to Help Develop South Bay Bike Plan

City staff will soon help develop the South Bay Regional Bicycle Master Plan, working alongside the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition and South Bay Bicycle Coalition.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to not only join in the effort, but also appoint Councilman Jeff Duclos to represent the city on the Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee. 

Duclos told the council that he is "happy to represent this city" on the project.

Hermosa publicly supported the master plan earlier this year, along with neighboring cities Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Torrance, El Segundo, Lawndale and Gardena.

The county's bicycle coalition received a two-year grant in March to develop the master plan along with its South Bay chapter.

The project focuses mainly on the interconnectivity of the South Bay cities, improving existing bike paths, bikeway safety, street signage and policies.

Infrastructure improvements could come in many forms, according to Marissa Christiansen, South Bay Bikeways Initiative director. 

"Some may be fully dedicated bike paths, others may be the simple addition of a bike lane or the new concept of sharrows [shared lane markings] on a road," she wrote in a summer report submitted to the city.

Hermosa Beach already has a similar master bike plan, which passed last year. The city's plan called for sharrows to be painted on many of the local roadways and the improvement of bike lanes.

But as for the South Bay's plan, "We would coordinate ours with theirs," said City Manager Steve Burrell.

The bicycle coalitions predict that the preparation and approval process for the South Bay master plan will extend through 2012.