RECREATIONAL - Completing the Downtown portion of the InChannel Bike Path would increase dramatically the attractiveness of riding along the LA River to the cycling community of Los Angeles. Furthermore, it will make bike riding along the river more accessible and viable to numerous communities like Downtown Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, East LA, China Town, Huntington Park, Monterey Park.
Cycling as means of TRANSPORTATION. – Providing safe cycling access to Downtown LA – Downtown LA is home to over 500,000 jobs! Most of people use their cars to get to work, but a growing number are using public transportation and a negligible amount use their bicycles. Despite concentrated efforts of striping bike lanes that would connect downtown to neighboring communities, access by bicycle to downtown is risky as there is no dedicated bicycle lanes (cycle tracks) leading to downtown. The InChannel Bike Path will be a dramatic game changer by providing a dedicated Bike lane without the risk of grazing a bus. It provides an environment that is clear of Carbon monoxide and instead of listening to the sound of engines, the cyclist will enjoy the sound of birds that dwell in the River. Completing the missing link will capitalize on the original infrastructure investment that the City of Los Angeles and the county of Los Angeles did by making the rest of the Bike path reach its full potential as one connected system.
THE ENVIRONMENT – It does not require a PhD to recognize the added value of giving one Angeleno, dependent on his/her car for transportation, the opportunity to use his/her bike instead. This lucky person, will save an average of $200.00 in fuel, about $200 in the cost of owning and maintaining a car. Not only that, he can save about $80 on his Gym membership, and in general will be a significantly healthier person. The same person would also save us (the tax payers) the relative cost of maintaining and expanding our street and freeway system, reduce our carbon footprint and help the rest of the less than lucky community (that cannot use their bicycle) get to work in a shorter time as he would reduce the traffic impact. (Yes, if there is a medal for “LEED employee” it should be given to anyone that makes this switch into biking.
SENSE OF PLACE – As we grew accustomed to car mobility in the last 7 decades and have overcome the need of horizontal expansion by building a sophisticated freeway system, we all lost our sense of place. Our understanding of our urban place is limited to the areas of our departure (home) and the area of arrival (work) and anything in between becomes a list of exits, nothing more. When one changes their mode of transportation to cycling, they get to know the environments that they cycle through in an intimate way. One can stop for few minutes to check out a new store. Now it is easy to do so, as one does not need to worry about parking. Sitting for ten Minutes at the river park under the 6th street Bridge to read some headlines on your Smartphone begins to feel like you belong to the place. A real City with a sense of place.
POLITICS – The awareness of the Los Angeles River is on the rise. Thanks to organizations like FOLAR that have been advocating for our river for almost three decades, some dedicated and visionary politicians that caused our government to adopt the City’s LA river Master plan and the LA County river master Plan, new leadership and direction at the US Army corps of engineers that have now completed the ARBOR study which will lead to restoration of the river natural habitat in few sections of the river, and newly formed organizations like the Los Angeles River Revitalization corporation that was established to implement the vision of the adopted master plan, The river today is no longer a forgotten concrete channel. However, access to the river for Angelinos is still very limited to the Cyclist that enjoy riding the length of the bike path in Elysian Valley or from Long beach to Maywood, and few hundred Kayak fans that participate in the Kayak program. What can really change the political scene is when 10,000 people a day will be using the bike path as part of their daily routine. Then attracting resources to the river from the federal government and other funding sources would not be about the nostalgic dream of the visionaries, but rather the answer to a real need of the people of Los Angeles. This will be the perfect stepping stone to change the perception of the world around us on why we need the LA River to flourish as a component of our community.
ACCESS TO PARKS – Some of Los Angeles best green space touches the Los Angeles River – Elysian Park, Griffith Park, Rose Hill Park (Arroyo Seco), Sycamore Grove park, Maywood riverfront park, Hollydale Park, Ralph C Dillis Park, Golden Park, Cressa Park, Palm Beach Park, Shoreline Aquatic Park.
Access to public transportation - Union Station the largest HUB of ground transportation in the region is a stone throw away from the Los Angeles River. Building a new point of access on Main Street and 6Th Street will provide thousands of people with the ability to connect with public transportation in a whole different way.
