People for Bikes, a national advocacy organization for bicyclists, released its list of the best new bike infrastructure in the country. Santa Monica’s newly installed 17th Street Bike Lanes ranked #16 on the list and the city celebrated in its “Take the Friendly Road” newsletter earlier today.
We are proud to see 17th Street featured as one of “America’s best new bike lanes of 2023,” the city wrote.
In the announcement of the “best infrastructure” list, People for Bikes noted not just the high quality of the protected bike lanes, but also the city’s overall commitment to safer cycling and innovation. The listing from People for Bikes can be found below. But to read the rest of the list, read the full story at Streetsblog.
Santa Monica further solidified its reputation as a great city for bicycling with the completion of curb-protected bike lanes along 17th Street. Stretching just over a mile from Wilshire Boulevard to Pico Boulevard, this project features Southern California’s first curb-protected intersections, offering significant safety improvements for cyclists. The 17th Street bikeway conveniently connects key locations such as the 17th Street Metro E Line Station, Santa Monica College, and the Michigan Avenue Greenway, creating a more accessible and interconnected bike network.
Earlier in 2023, Santa Monica’s innovative use of a concrete extrusion machine for bike lane construction garnered significant attention, with the efficient, precise technology creating multiple blocks of protected bikeways in a single day. In a Streetsblog article from June, the city’s principal engineer, Selim Eren, highlighted the sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and speed of the method, emphasizing the significant transformation from traditional bike lanes to the new protected design on Ocean Avenue, resulting in a substantial increase in cyclist volume.
