Orange Ave Bike Lane by Harding St
SHARE THE ROAD! This seemingly simple directive seems to anger a lot of drivers. In 2014 the Safe Passing distance law was ratified in CA and it states that you must allow 3 ft of space between your vehicle and bicyclists. When there isn’t enough room for a vehicle to pass safely, bicyclists can take the lane, which angers most drivers since it seems like the road is no longer being shared.
Unfortunately, it seems like too many drivers think that tail-gating, honking, aggressive acceleration, or running someone off the road is how you deal with that situation. Nowhere in the CA vehicle code does it say that motorists can pass whenever and wherever they want, but only WHEN IT IS SAFE TO DO SO.
In 2022, AB 1909 added the “change lanes to pass” provision that asks drivers to change lanes completely to increase safety. Folks have a hard time judging what 3 ft looks like, which puts pedestrians, bicyclists, and road workers in danger. When another lane is not available, drivers have to slow down and only pass WHEN IT IS SAFE TO DO SO.
While aggressive and impatient drivers are definitely hazardous to other road users, it seems that the real danger is a distracted driver. This driver is too busy scrolling through social media feeds to pay attention to the road, let alone notice a bicyclist. Driving has become so easy and convenient that it doesn’t feel as risky to check emails or reply to messages, all to the detriment of the safety and well-being of anyone outside of that vehicle.
A bicyclist will choose what feels safe, so bike riders often opt to ride on sidewalks. There is an ordinance in Long Beach that prohibits this, and with good reason. Sidewalks are for pedestrians. The average walking speed is less than 5mph and the average bicycling speed is about 10-12 mph. Entrances to businesses and homes pose riskier points of interaction that can cause possible collisions between a cyclist and a pedestrian or even a vehicle pulling in or out. Also, navigating cracked sidewalks, dips, and various other obstacles along the sidewalk makes biking on the sidewalk for long distances a pretty impractical option.
But I don’t blame anyone for preferring to ride on the sidewalk. A collision between a pedestrian and a cyclist probably won’t result in death or serious injury, given that the speed isn’t excessive. While you technically are allowed to use the road on Ocean Blvd, 7th St, Anaheim Ave, or even Pacific Coast Highway, I wouldn’t recommend it based on how wild drivers act on those streets. And if there’s no hurry, then cruising down the sidewalk doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.
So all of that just to get to the point that Bike Lanes are a great solution to this issue. We share the road by having a safe designated area where bikes can travel at a comfortable/practical speed, without putting pedestrians in danger. We get the benefits of smooth paved roads (that we also pay for with our tax money). There is also the added benefit of calming down traffic and forcing folks to pay attention to the road. Don’t want to scrape your rims? Don’t want to side-swipe that car? Hands at 10 and 2 and proceed with caution please.
Once you start including bike lanes then you have to support them. This means building a bike lane network that helps bicyclists reach their destination safely. Too often a bike lane will show up that just abruptly ends. Can you imagine if car infrastructure was built the same way bike infrastructure is built?
Enter the Orange Ave. Backbone Bikeway Project. This is the proposed main corridor for the bicycle lane network in the Bicycle Master Plan that was set in motion in 2015. Of the 4 streets that run North and South continuously through all of Long Beach, Orange Ave. was selected as the backbone to this network.
- Starting at the Northern boundary of Long Beach, there is a Class IV protected bike lane that stretches from 72nd to 52nd.
- From 52nd to Bixby Rd, there is a Class II painted bike lane that is wide enough to invite impatient drivers to pass on the right.
- The bike lane ends at Bixby Rd to Wardlow Rd, which is the Historic Cal-Heights neighborhood.
- From Wardlow Rd to Hill St you are technically in the City of Signal Hill and there is no bike lane except for the intersection of Orange Ave. and Spring Ave, which was a collaborative effort between both cities due to the new development requirements.
- From Hill St. to Pacific Coast Highway, new improvements are in the works to connect the bike lane.
- And from PCH to Ocean Blvd, a Class II painted bike lane gets you to Shoreline Dr.
In November of 2024 the Department of Public Works hosted community meetings that focused on receiving feedback from the public on 2 sections of Orange Ave: Hill St. to PCH and Bixby Rd to Wardlow Rd.
The meeting presented various traffic calming measures, such as improvements to bus stops, pedestrian crossings, and the continuation of the bike lane. Eric Lopez, current director of Public Works, mentioned that “Long Beach is committed to becoming one of the top 10 bikeable cities in the United States.
While the meeting at the McBride Community Center was chill, the meeting for the Cal-Heights neighborhood was anything but:
Not in my backyard! Or in this case, not in front of my house! The overall reaction from some of the Cal-Heights residents on Orange Ave is:
“I want cyclists and pedestrians to be safe, just not at the expense of losing parking.”
This was a quote that made it into the subsequent meeting in February of 2025 because of how volatile the first meeting was. Here are the alternatives proposed:
Alternative 1 removes the center lane and puts a 2 way protected bicycle lane on the west-side of Orange. While parking is preserved, the removal of the center lane is enough for people to want to cancel the entire project because this will make it difficult to pull in and out of driveways. It could potentially make it difficult for emergency vehicles to pass since automobile traffic might clog up the street.
Alternative 2 also removes the center lane and paints a line to delineate the bike lane. This creates a false sense of security for bicycle riders that drivers will respect their presence on the road. The dangers of being sideswiped by a passing vehicle or running into an opening door from a parked vehicle are amplified since the center lane is removed. These painted lines also accomplish nothing towards calming traffic since paint can easily be crossed by vehicles impatient/inattentive drivers.
Alternative 3 is probably the safest but most controversial. This alternative preserves the center turn lane and puts a 2-way protected bicycle lane on the west-side of Orange. The controversy is the removal of all parking on the west-side of the blocks.
Cal-Heights is nowhere near the Parking Impacted Areas that the city has designated, so it’s not even a real issue, just a perceived one. Google satellite views also show garages with alley access and driveways with 2 or more car spots available. It seems like it is just curbside parking that will be removed. How is the loss of excess parking given more importance than the loss of life or risk of injury? The whole purpose of this project is to help achieve Vision Zero to stop entirely preventable deaths due to traffic.
The other arguments against this section of the project is the negative impact on businesses due to loss of parking. What some of these folks fail to realize is that a bike lane and increased pedestrian safety are a boost to small businesses. Many businesses along Broadway also opposed the protected bike lane project, but were positively impacted after bike lanes were installed.
While we have no jurisdiction over what the city of Signal Hill will do, the Orange Ave Bikeway is also in their Bicycle Master Plan. City leadership should strengthen their relationship with Signal Hill to collaborate on projects like this. The protected intersection and bike lanes on Spring St were accomplished through these collaborative efforts. The argument from some Cal-Heights residents is to not even bother to continue the bike lane project since we have no control over that section. But so much of it is done, why not include the 0.5 mile stretch?
Another argument is to redirect the bike lanes at Bixby Rd to move bicyclists towards already existing bike infrastructure. Even though most bicyclists already use Walnut or California to get across the 405, the backbone project is about continuity and safety. If you live in Cal-Heights and were trying to get to Orange and Spring, what would you say if I told you to go to Long Beach Blvd, get on the 405 S, and get off on Orange? After all, there are no bikes allowed on the freeway. I wouldn’t take that suggestion seriously, yet it’s alarming that so many signs were made offering Walnut Ave. as Alternative 4. By the way, these were the same folks who also claimed to never see cyclists on the road.
So now we wait to see what happens. We have 5.7 miles out of 8.2 total miles of Bike Lane on Orange Ave. The bike lane varies in classification, but that’s part of the growing process between design and actual use. After these 2 half-mile sections are complete, there will be one more mile of completed bike lanes on either side of Signal Hill. Long Beach will still have to collaborate with Signal Hill to figure out how to complete the street South of Wardlow and the Willow Springs Park section, and Long Beach will also have to collaborate with CalTrans to figure out how to safely cross the 405 access points. In the meantime, let’s appreciate the biking infrastructure that we do have. There is always room for improvement, so let’s support any effort that works towards that goal.
North on Orange Ave, Jun 2025
My daily commute home for Spring 2025