The Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway is Long Beach’s largest biking infrastructure project. Revisioning the arterial from Ocean Boulevard in the south to Jackson Street in the north, it will be one of the city’s largest continous bike paths once completed. Of course, community input is required. And the stretch of the project between Wardlow and Bixby Roads in Bixby Knolls/Cal Heights will be the focus on a community meeting at the EXPO Arts Center on Thursday, Feb. 13 from 6PM to 7PM.
What is the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway?
The Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway will “transform Orange Avenue from Downtown Long Beach to North Long Beach into a safer, more accessible multi-modal corridor,” according to the City of Long Beach. The $30M project—part of the city’s massive Elevate ’28 investment plan tied to the 2028 Summer Olympics—will implement innovative pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure enhancements, improve pedestrian and traffic safety, and expand connectivity for cyclists.
What are the main features of the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway?
- Gaps bridged along the corridor for an 8.6-mile continuous bikeway between Jackson Street and Ocean Boulevard. The Class IV Bikeway will include protective measures such as raised concrete barriers and separation from the road with vehicle parking
- Safe connections to intersecting bikeway corridors
- Protected intersections with traffic signal upgrades
- Highly visible crosswalks
- Bus islands (dedicated transit boarding areas) and curb extensions
- ADA and concrete improvements including curb ramps, driveway and sidewalk repair
- Pavement rehabilitation
- Commemorative monuments and enhanced wayfinding signage
What’s planned for the Bixby Knolls/Cal Heights stretch of the project?
There are three alternatives being proposed for this particular stretch of the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway.
Alternative 1:
- Two-way cycle path, where the north and southbound bike paths are side by side on the west side of the road.
- Protected corners will make the transition between the two-way cycle path and the bi-directional bike lanes a safer one.
- Prioritizes parking preservation
- No center turn lane
- Hinders driveway accessibility
- Limits lane space for large vehicles, such as buses and refuse trucks
- Similar to other recently completed protected bikeway projects
Alternative 2:
- Bike lanes are between parking and driving lanes
- Prioritizes parking preservation
- Bike lanes do not have protective buffers
- Bike lanes are less likely to be used by families with young children or less confident riders as safety buffers drive a higher likelihood of
bike lane adoption
Alternative 3:
- Two-way cycle path, where the north and southbound bike paths are side by side on the west side of the road.
- Protected corners will make the transition between the two-way cycle path and the bi-directional bike lanes a safer one.
- Prioritizes limiting collisions
- Only alternative that retains center turn lane, making it easier for motorists to drive around stopped cars or large trucks in driving lane
- Ideal for families with young children and overall community safety
- Meets the expectations of the City’s Bicycle Master Plan and improves the quality of life for residents
The community meeting for the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway stretch in Bixby Knolls will take place on Thursday, Feb. 13 from 6PM to 7PM at the EXPO Arts Center, located at 4321 Atlantic Ave.
This will not be a conversation. The city people will dominate remarks and the public will not be heard. Been to some of these “community meetings”.
How is this supposed to work at the intersection of Hill St and Orange Ave where there is a bridge with only one narrow lane moving East to West on Hill Street and one lane moving North/South on Orange Ave ?
Last meeting I heard that south of Wardlow is Signal Hill and they are not signed on for it and even if they were Orange Ave continues on right past the 405 Fwy on-ramps and off-ramps. It doesn’t seem right to disrupt the parking and narrow the street for all the residents on Orange Ave from Bixby Rd just to have the bike lane end at Wardlow Rd.
Version 1 “limits driveway access”? We can’t get in our own driveway? Version 2 takes out central lane? How do we stop to turn in driveways or cross streets without blocking traffic? Cars are forced into oncoming traffic to pass stopped cars. How do emergency vehicles travel when there is no central lane, no place for cars to pull over to let them pass? This makes no sense to improve traffic flow, and no one uses Orange Avenue for bike riding. As far as making for less accidents, this will create more. It would make much more sense to put in more traffic lights to slow speeders.
Is a backbone still a backbone if a vertebrae is missing? I know it’s difficult to get Caltrans, Signal Hill and Long Beach to do something together, but what’s the goal if we’re calling it a backbone? There also aren’t projects being discussed for the worst of traffic injuries and fatalities along the “backbone” in the stretch from Anaheim to PCH along Alamitos.
was at the meeting regarding the Orange Avenue Backbone project in November and at the one on February 15th, led by Eric Lopez. At both meetings,  Eric and his team kept talking about how the lanes would slow traffic and the safety of the bike lanes as if they would magically rid the City of traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by 2026. Eric and his team were there to tell us what we were getting because it’s the direction the City Leadership wants, and they were dismissive of our concerns as if they were trite. The City of Long Beach, Eric, and his team need to acknowledge the hardships that the lanes will cause to residents and businesses, such as the additional risk of going in and out of the driveways to the drivers and cyclists on Orange Ave., the loss of parking spaces that we can’t afford to lose, delivery drivers needing places to park, the time and effort residents have put into keeping the charm of Cal Height alive. The neighborhood was developed nearly a hundred years ago, resulting in street parking now being the only option for most residents and businesses. We’re at the maximum when it comes to parking in Cal Heights on Orange Ave on both sides of the street, especially on street cleaning days! Eric told us his team visited Orange Ave to survey the parking. I can say with certainty that the information he shared was wrong. The percentage of available parking spaces throughout the day he shared was wrong. Eric then mentioned a few times the City was working on alternative parking ideas, but wouldn’t share them until pressed by the audience. For example, Eric mentioned that parking options were being considered on Wardlow. He said that diagonal parking was an option. However, it’s clear Eric or anyone from his team has visited the area to see the short spanes between driveways on Wardlow off of Orange and bus stops.
Additionally, Eric’s team was unaware of the churches on Orange Ave and how the bike lanes would affect the comings and goings of their parishioners. Another example of how the team fell short was when a woman from the audience told the team about the research she did to see if driveways in the historic district could be widened; it was determined they could not. All that’s been approved is striping around the driveways. I believe she said she got the information from Cal Trans.
I live in Cal Heights, a few houses from Orange. I get that the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway is intended to slow the traffic on Orange Ave and make Orange and Alamitos Avenues more accessible and safer for multiple modes of transportation. However, the City installed a signal at 36th and Orange that was supposed to slow traffic, but it hasn’t. All it’s done is add to speeding by drivers trying to make the light from all directions, running stop signs on both sides of 36th St. to make the light on the side streets, significant traffic on 36th, and there are still accidents at 36th and Orange. Supposing the City is genuinely interested in our safety. If that is the case, the City needs to install more stop signs throughout the neighborhoods, an additional signal must be installed at 37th and Orange to slow traffic, and the City needs to hire more police for traffic control. We need the services we already pay for before the City installs another experiment on how to slow traffic.Â
We have existing bike lanes along the Los Angeles River that can be used in place of the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway. The route along the river ends at Ocean Ave., just like the proposed Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway. I get that the bike lanes along the Los Angeles River are owned/maintained by the County of Los Angeles. With that said, the City of Long Beach needs to work with the County to clean up the existing bike lanes for use. There is no excuse not to work with the County. Understandably, Eric and his team are in favor of the Backbone Bikeway as it’s the easy solution to appease City Leadership.
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After attending 2 meetings regarding the Orange Ave Bike Backbone Project and from talking to City personnel who don’t even live in Long Beach or the neighborhoods that will be affected by the bike lane, they don’t care how the lanes will disrupt the residents and businesses; they’re just doing their job, and won’t be affected at all by the changes they want to force on us.Â
Lastly, the City of Signal Hill not approved the Backbone lanes in their City. Understandably, the City of Long Beach wants the grant money for the project, which will end up being the Backbone Bikeway to nowhere.
CORRECTION TO THE LAST SENTENCE OF PARAGRAPH 2 –
However, it’s clear Eric or anyone from his team has NOT visited the area to see the short spanes between driveways on Wardlow off of Orange and bus stops.