CITY OF LONG BEACH, CA
Planning and Public Works
Bicycle Master Plan Update
and Bike Boulevards
Project Type: Bicycle Master Plan Update and Bike Boulevards
Scale: Citywide, City of 300,000
Start Date: 2008-2009
Role:Technical Assistance Coordinator,
Prime Consultant
Kendall Planning + Design provided technical assistance to the staff of the City of Long Beach for an update to their Bicycle Master Plan and the development of potential bicycle boulevards to serve key parts of the City.
Kendall Planning and Design staff toured the City evaluating potential bicycle boulevard locations and prepared a summary of the characteristics of various potential routes. Using bicycles provided by City partner Bikestation, KPD and City staff toured the most likely first phase bike boulevard routes and evaluated their strengths and weaknesses in detail.
Kendall Planning and Design also met with City of Long Beach staff and other key partners in the project to identify potential issues and to examine coordination issues and phasing of the project in relation to several concurrent and related policy updates including the City's General Plan Land Use and Mobility Element updates and the Bicycle Master Plan for Cal State Long Beach. Research on recent CEQA lawsuits related to Bicycle Master Plans in San Francisco was also provided by KPD to City staff for consideration in project phasing and environmental review.
As an important baseline for the plan, the City required a comprehensive baseline evaluation of the level of bicycle activity in the City. KPD hired Alta Planning + Design as a subconsultant to assist City and Bikestation staff to collect relevant count data. With the help of an extensive recruitment of volunteer counters from the bicycle community, the count was completed in October 2008 and analyzed to provide a planning baseline for the Bike Master Plan effort and assist in setting targets for the City's plan.