A presentation on the City’s Bicycle Master Plan proposing bike lane improvements on Prospect Street got a lukewarm reception recently from La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board.

LJT&T planner Dave Abrams in October introduced Everett Hauser, program manager with the City’s Transportation Department. “He’s going to tell us about the Bicycle Master Plan as it relates to La Jolla,” said Abrams. “They have some definite projects ahead.”

During a slideshow presentation, Hauser told community planners street resurfacing and restriping are two future planned activities for La Jolla on Prospect Street. “With these resurfacings, it gives us a chance to make improvements to the roadways,” he said. “Generally what people notice is the addition or modification of bike lanes that we’re implementing per the bicycle master plan. With the (City’s) multi-modal (transportation) plan, that gives us a blank slate to modify the striping (of streets).”

The Bicycle Master Plan is part of the City’s long-term vision contained in its General Plan. It serves as a policy document guiding the development and maintenance of bicycle facilities citywide. Its policies address all issues related to San Diego’s bikeways including planning, community involvement, utilization of existing resources, facility design, safety, education, and funding.

Hauser cited Torrey Pines Road as one example where the configuration of the roadway, which only had a single stripe, allowed the City, via resurfacing, to resize the lane creating more separation between bicyclists and cars. “On Prospect Street we’re trying to fit in bikeways where there is the existing angle parking: That will remain,” said Hauser adding, “We’ll put sharrows (white pavement markings showing a bicycle symbol with two chevrons on top) there.”

“This is informational, it is not an action item,” noted Abrams. “The City is coming to us to let us know what’s coming down the pike.”

Responding to the City’s bike-lane plans for Prospect Street, Paul Jameson, who works at UC San Diego said: “I’d like to be able to bike down to downtown La Jolla. But it is extremely unsafe to do so. And I’m not seeing much in this plan that makes it a lot safer. I’m just disappointed to see things like sharrows. The buffered bike lanes, some parts of this, certainly are an improvement. But this is really not ideal. It’s regrettable that we’re still prioritizing abundant street parking over the safety of residents.”

“I have some significant concerns as a biker on Prospect,” said another LJT&T attendee via Zoom, who pointed out he didn’t feel bike lane space on Prospect was wide enough with the City’s plans. “I don’t know how you can stick a bike lane in that will be useful there,” he argued. “These numbers seem very idealistic. This is not allowing me to be safe on Prospect with these narrow bike lanes right along the edge of cars.”

“A key thing to note, unlike the situation on 30th Street in North Park that has raised all kinds of hackles, concerns, and opposition, is that there is no parking loss here,” said LJT&T’s Abrams.

Will Rhatigan, advocacy director for San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, weighed in on the Prospect Street bike-lane discussion. “Certainly this is an improvement over the existing conditions,” he said. “We know that bike lanes are safer than no bike lanes. That said, narrow bike lanes in the door zone are definitely not the safest option. We’re willing to accept that here because we think that La Jolla is somewhere where it could be really hard to take away parking. And we don’t know if there is community support.”

Added Rhatigan, “What we have here is definitely an opportunity to make the street (Prospect) safer. That said, we could make it a lot safer. I would really encourage you to push for that and ask for it. But it’s never too easy taking away parking. We know people don’t always like it. But it’s really the right decision here. As a bike coalition, we are really supportive of the safest option, but we’re understanding of the constraints as well.”