Pasadena Studying 4 North-South ‘Bike Boulevard’ Corridors

City officials are planning to implement “bike boulevards” on El Molino, Wilson, Sierra Bonita, and Craig Avenues, according to the Greenway Traffic Analysis and Implementation study that was recently presented to Pasadena’s Transportation Advisory Commission.

New bike boulevard improvements on El Molino Avenue would stretch to the north and south borders of the city, according to a report appearing at streetblogs.org. Those on Wilson Avenue would stretch from Washington Boulevard to near the southern border at Arden Road. On Sierra Bonita Avenue, lanes would stretch from Washington Boulevard to Colorado Boulevard. On Craig Avenue, bike lanes would run from Casa Grande Street to the city’s southern border at Del Mar Boulevard. 

Lower vehicle speeds and intersection improvements to facilitate easier crossings are being considered for neighborhood greenways/bike boulevards.

Pasadena’s Department of Transportation staff is expected to share findings of the study with the public this coming summer. From there, staff will be getting feedback on the findings, the project concepts, and refine the work to be eventually developed as future capital improvement projects.

Planning for these corridors has been in the works since as early as 2015 when the city released its Bicycle Transportation Plan, which had the goal to build a bikeway network that would put a bikeway within a quarter mile of every residential neighborhood. A feasibility study included in the Bicycle Transportation Action Plan (BTAP) identified 10 corridors — including El Molino, Wilson, Sierra Bonita, and Craig avenues — that could be a good fit for protected bike lanes, buffered bike lanes, and bike boulevards.

The study of El Molino, Wilson, Sierra Bonita, and Craig avenues started in 2019 when KOA Consulting was contracted to analyze the impacts, feasibility, benefits, and costs of their bike boulevard projects. Some of the infrastructure improvements proposed include bulb outs, quick build medians, bike crossing at intersections, flashing light beacons, roundabouts, bicycle boxes for turning, and curb extensions.

El Molino Avenue improvements include installing quick-build medians and offset edge islands, which seem similar to bulb outs since they pinch the road narrowing it. 

This study also is developing an implementation plan which would rank each corridor by how well it would reduce crashes, how the corridor would fill out the bicycle network, its ability to access open space, schools and existing bikeways, its benefits to areas burdened by unhealthy environments, costs, and impacts to traffic and parking.