Burbank Bikes
I like riding my bike and I like riding my bike with others but I don't like riding my bike with cars.
This piece was inspired by a friend of mine who mentioned noticing empty bike lanes. I go on some rambles but if you like riding bikes OR if you’ve ever wondered why people don’t use bike lanes: stick with me and I’ll show you.
‘tis the season to watch the pets of your loved ones. My sister and I live in the same town so that makes things easy... so easy that I decided to ride my bike over (What’s a few miles?). What ensued was a good lesson in the incomplete capital plan for my town and the harrowing experience for someone just tryna save money on gas and maybe help out the planet.
My sister and I are separated by the 5 Freeway. This is true of many Burbank families; the deadly concrete wall that travels people but divides cities. Crossing it is possible but difficult. Doing so on a bike is harder still.
The most straightforward is to use one of the car specific bridges. Burbank, Magnolia, Olive, or the Underpass of Alameda
The problem with these bridges, is they’re not that friendly to someone on a bike (or pedestrians but that’s for another discussion). The only sorta kinda bike lanes that exist are on the Burbank Blvd bridge but this is merely paint on the pavement. Technically this is a bike lane but more akin to me painting a shirt on, do you want me showing up at your Christmas dinner donned only in paint? Gross.
I like to look at Google Maps in my free-time. I like seeing how the streets connect and imagining the old Red Car train tracks that defined the initial fabric of so many cities. I also like to find potential routes that I could ride my bike in the safest way. Don’t worry, if you’re one of my friends or family reading this, I’ve absolutely already figured out how to get to your house only by bike (even if I have yet to try).
Google Maps will tell you that the quickest way for me to get across the 5 is either taking Olive or Magnolia, but both are not fun options on a bike as you have to share space with cars.
But I’ve found a better way…
If you take the bike lane along Verdugo, it eventually turns into a shared, low traffic street. Then you find yourself along a short stretch of the Burbank Channel Bike Path, and then you find yourself under the Olive Ave Bridge and at the Train Station. Then you cross the train tracks and use the Front Street protected bike lane to get across the freeway. From there, it’s another smattering of painted bike lanes and sharrows (for those who are unfamiliar, sharrows are the bike symbol I’ve shared below indicating that the road is to be shared by bikes and cars. Wonder who usually wins that battle?)
By now you probably understand the issue. There are technically safe routes to traverse the freeway but look at how much longer it takes? This route also has some tradeoffs, it’s not perfect. Bear with me, I tried something else out:
I mentioned the Front Street Bike Path before and I knew from this piece that there were plans to connect it to the Burbank Blvd Bridge. It’s not TOO far out of the way for me and it’s less than a mile from the Chandler Bike Path. Not too bad if you use some surface streets to close the gap.
So I decided to try that way instead of the Verdugo route… boy was that an interesting experience… Below is the space allotted for someone riding a bike. To the left of all those cars. A tiny little sliver of approximately 3 feet with 40mph vehicles wizzing by you.
What made it worse is that I didn’t realize at the time but the bike lane isn’t actually finished yet. It’s currently under construction (and for some reason has been for 6 months???) So I was bombing down the hill trying to avoid construction traffic.
I made it to the train station and the bike lane started. I made it to my sister’s house unscathed.
Ben. Where the fuck are you going with all of this? Honestly, I’m just trying to show how difficult it is to make the decision to take alternative transportation. My sister and I live 3.5 miles away from one another. Too far to walk, and driving is super easy. Public transportation is kind of viable, there’s a bus that connects us but it takes twice as long as a car.
I don’t need you to get out of your car and huff it so I can ride my bike everywhere. I don’t even think that driving is all that bad. I love driving. It’s fast. I’m in control. No one can bother me in my bubble. But driving has a massive price that I don’t want to risk paying every time I get behind the wheel of a car.
Did you know that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death of children?
I bet you didn’t think a meandering story about feeding my sister’s cats would get this dark. This is what drives my passion. It’s not just the environmental impact, it’s not just the fun of owning an e-bike: it’s life or death.
Do you want a child riding alone on any of the bike routes that I mentioned?
There’s some great bike infrastructure in Burbank, and there’s great potential. I’m happy to see that my town is making some sort of progress towards a safer future. I’ll be honest: it’s not enough. The network is not adequate and the slow pace is unecessary. Yes, there’s a bit of a plan but it’s really not moving fast enough.
If you ever wonder why you don’t see people using a bike lane, remember this story. Remember that a high quality bike path exists in the Chandler Bikepath and remember that the end just kinda looks like this:
And many other examples like this exist throughout the city.
As you can tell, this was a stream of consciousness post. I’d like to make an effort to speak about these issues even more because it’s something I’m always thinking about. I’ll catch you next time.
- BHillz