After several years of development and community outreach, the Beverly Hills City Council has adopted the Complete Streets Plan which balances the needs of all the city’s road users such as bicyclists, pedestrians, transit riders and motorists. The approved plan gives City Staff the ability to move forward on projects that implement various conceptual goals to prepare for emerging technologies, prioritize first/last mile improvements to the Metro Purple Line stations and increase grant funding eligibility.
One of the projects outlined in the Complete Streets Plan is Connect Beverly Hills: Meet me on Wilshire and La Cienega. Launched last year, this streetscape plan recommends new sidewalk designs and pedestrian amenities in preparation for the opening of the Metro (D Line) subway station slated to open in 2023. Next steps will include finalizing the conceptual design elements and implementation.
Other on-going Complete Streets projects include installation of citywide signal upgrades to help prepare for connected and autonomous vehicles; expanding bike parking on sidewalks and on-street bike corrals; purchasing software to allow for improved collision analysis; and evaluation of the Camden and Brighton Way project as part of the grant-funded Pedestrian and Bicycle Awareness Campaign.
New initiatives that will soon be underway include community engagement for the first high priority bikeway project on Roxbury Drive, south of Olympic Boulevard, to connect with other bike lanes in Los Angeles. The Traffic and Parking Commission will review the Complete Streets Action Plan at its Aug. 5 meeting. For more information, visit beverlyhills.org/completestreets.
