Caltrans Confirms Bike Lanes on Desmond Bridge

I sat in on a conference call today between Long Beach bike advocates Mark Bixby and Allan Crawford and, on the other end were Michael Miles, Director District 7 CalTrans and Eric Shen, Port of Long Beach, Director of Transportation Planning and others. The subject: would bike lanes and pedestrian access be built into the design of the new $1B Desmond Bridge?

It had been a contentious issue, previous discussions had apparently resolved little, but today would be different. At the end of the 30 min call there were high fives and raised fists of rejoicing. The long 6 month process appears at an end. CalTrans and the Port agreed that “the separated bicycle and pedestrian facilities will be included as a mandatory part of the bid process”. Will they be eliminated if the budget comes in too high? In a word, no.