Bikes on the freeway

This past spring, as a lot of transportation news was heating up, a group of cyclists who call themselves the Crimanimalz went for a pair of bike rides that included short stretches of the Santa Monica and 405 freeways. During rush hour. In traffic. Then, in June, another group of cyclists -- there was apparently overlap between the groups -- went on a ride on the 101 freeway.

Videos of those rides hit the launching pad of the Internet and have been viewed a healthy amount of times. The so-called mainstream media has taken notice, too, and provided links.

I had the chance to sit down last week with three members of the Crimanimalz: Alex Cantarero, 28, of Santa Monica; Paul Bringetto, 36, of Santa Monica; and a third who identified himself as Richard 'to the IE,' 23, of Lincoln Heights in Los Angeles.

Here are a few highlights of the interview:

* I asked about the safety and legal aspect of the freeway rides. It is illegal to ride a bike on most urban freeways in California and its not hard to imagine an unsuspecting motorists hitting a cyclist that the motorist never expected would be there. That's a bad outcome for everyone.

Rich 'to the IE' said that if someone got hurt, the rides would end. But the cyclists did not say they will stop riding on the freeway and, in fact, they suggested that riding on the freeway in slow rush-hour traffic was safer than the conditions they experience on streets in the area. They also promised more public stunts to get attention for their cause.

They said that they are comfortable with any legal consequences they suffer to advance their cause -- in other words, they're comfortable with getting more tickets or hauled into court. "If there are a few more fallen soldiers that fall voluntarily, I'm not that concerned," said Cantarero.

* The eventual goal of the rides, they said, is not to break the law for the sake of breaking the law, but to raise awareness of cycling issues and, if necessary, make any fixes themselves. "What the city won't do, we will," said Rich 'to the IE.'

"We're not against cars and we're not trying to kill car culture," he added. "But if you get some cars off the road" -- by getting more people on bikes -- "there will be more room" for the people who drive.

"There have been activists here for years and years and they haven't accomplished much," said Bringetto.

Among their goals is to get more cycling facilities for the area -- more bike lanes, designated bike routes that are actually good routes and more traffic signals that detect bikes.

Cantarero also had a novel idea: he wants to see bike lanes built along freeway routes that are completely separated from traffic (for example: by putting them on the embankment above the roadway) but would allow cyclists to get a head of speed and keep it without the constant starting and stopping that goes with riding on streets

All three said they like the idea of not having to buy gasoline and that they liked having their commute time tied to their level of fitness and cycling proficiency.

* The freeway rides, they said, came about in response to police who they said were picking on cyclists when it came to enforcing the rules of the road.

In particular, they complained that police don't do enough to protect cyclists from vehicles -- and pointed to the recent incident in Mandeville Canyon as an example. A motorist has been charged with deliberately slamming on his brakes to cause a bike accident.

All three cyclists said that no matter how careful they ride, they all have frequent close-calls with motorists. In some cases, they said, motorists seem intent on trying to intimidate them and get bikes off road, a scary prospect they likened to having someone try to kill you. "It's when they think you're in the way that they become aggressive," said Rich 'to the IE,' noting that motorists have the advantage of being surrounded by a 3,000-pound vehicle.

I called Jennifer Klausner today to talk about the Crimanimalz. She's the executive director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and is one of those advocates who has been working a long time to get bikes more space to ride in the area.

"It seems to be making for some popular YouTube videos," she said. "I wish I had a video of my face when I was watching it for the first time because I was gasping in fear for them.

"I don't think they are putting themselves in mortal danger because no one in a car on those freeways was going anywhere," she added. "But we don't want the freeways. I do think it sends an interesting message to say you can get somewhere faster on a bike."

Finally, Klausner said, that she has very mixed feelings about the whole thing. Riding on freeways isn't legal, she noted, and shouldn't be. "I think there's already an anti-cyclist sentiment among certain types of motorists and it may exacerbate that, but we also know there's a lot of anger and frustration out there among cyclists."

-- Steve Hymon

Video: YouTube

Comments

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

Turnabout is fair play. I would listen to your arguments
about not allowing bicycles on freeways once the same
enforcement effort is placed on getting rollerbladers,
pedestrians, joggers, families pushing babybuggies,
families walking five abreast carrying their superking
Weber grilles, and people walking their six dogs on six
leaches on bicycle paths and trails. Until then, it is as
safe to bicycle on a freeway.

[calwatch]

Yes, the fact that you can ride your bicycle down Interstate 5 and State Route 99 (which accounts for over 50% of the legal lane miles of bicycling, simply because of their long length) doesn't mean much. You can legally ride your bike over the Grapevine. Is it a death wish to do so with trucks barreling down the road 5 feet away from you? Absolutely.

[Matthew]

In yesterdays Time, Steve Hymon's Road Sage article, pertained to the hazards us cyclists confront in Los Angeles. He interviewed some men from Crimanimalz, a group recently responsible for riding their bikes on freeways. I did that once, on the Century Freeway before it opened. Never would I do anything like that on a freeway with traffic.

Some of the ideas from Alex Cantarero on how to improve the bicycle experience in Los Angeles:

Another goal is to get more bike lanes, more traffic signals that detect bikes and more designated bike routes that actually have room for both traffic and bikes.

Cantarero said he wanted to see bike lanes built along freeway routes that are separated from traffic (for example, on the embankment above the roadway) and would allow cyclists to get a head of speed and keep it without the starting and stopping that goes with riding in traffic.

As for the second paragraph. My main question is why?
1. Riding a bicycle requires exertion and deeper breathing. Why would I want to inhale while exercising on a bike all of those exhaust fumes? A study showed that people living within 1,500 feet of freeways have higher incidences of asthma.

2. This would be very expensive. How would cyclists navigate the on and off ramps? Bridges over or tunnels under? Or just wait for a break in the traffic? This makes no sense to me.

Hopefully this freeway idea will not taken up by policy makers.

Matthew

[SoapBoxLA]

Fully 25% of California's freeways are legal for cyclists to ride.

The default position is that the freeways are open to cyclists. (Authorities must act to prohibit bicycling. For example CVC 21960 expressly authorizes local agency prohibition of bicycling on freeways. This wouldn't be necessary if it wasn't already legal.)

The simple statement "Riding on freeways isn't legal." is not true. It's a generalization that ignores the fact that the State of California offers cyclists 1000 miles of freeway, open to cyclists and marked for cyclists.

(By way of comparison, the City of LA offers 350 miles of Bikeway which includes bike paths, lanes and routes)

[russell]

Why don't you show pictures of the flattened pedestrians and cyclists that are so common in this city? One cannot go one week without reading about these in the local paper. Now suddenly bikes are a hazard? Radical environmental terrorists or something? What next for the LA Times? GW Bush wins the peace prize?

[Flunky Carter]

Ultimately... this time of demonstration stunt shows one thing; That there is a transportatoin problem in Los Angeles and some have found a solution that, with refinement will solve traffic woes IMMENSELY. I'm not saying that bicycles belong on the freeway, but they could belong on a bicycle freeway. Something similar to the bicycle path along the Ballona Creek seems VERY feasible along the I-10 and I-405s. Also, a TRAM seems theoretically possible along the center median, but as to why one doesn't exist or won't is up to debate.

We remember the future, and we think you're gonna like it.

[Chris Bucka]

Steve, Thought I'd give you a heads up; there actually IS a bike lane on a small stretch of the 23 freeway from Tierra Rejada in Moorpark to Olsen road, connecting Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley. Not that it's a practical commuting alternative since the lane only extends one exit, but for what it's worth, there's a designated bike lane on a local freeway.