Archinect - News

LA's new Sixth Street Viaduct is about to change common perspectives on public urban space

2022-03-28T12:34:00-04:00

Once it opens, construction will start on public playing fields, gathering areas, green spaces and a dog park at the foot of the bridge on the Boyle Heights side, and a performance stage and green spaces on the Arts District side. And cyclists can gear up for the fall unveiling of a 10-foot-wide bicycle lane going both directions on the bridge, which they can access from the bike lane at the river via a steep spiraling ramp. It is a ride that will take some energy.

LA architect Michael Maltzan spoke about his desire for the reborn cinematic landmark to be received as a public space that is suis generis within the available Downtown and Boyle Heights vistas, which are mostly blocked by hilly areas and typified by a lack of public space.

“The bridge is really meant to be a civic armature, to turn infrastructure into something that weaves together the city and connects communities. It's really going to be an observatory,” he told KCRW's Frances Anderton. “It gives you a different image, a different picture, a different view, a different vantage of the city that you think you know very well.”

Previously on Archinect: LA's famed 6th Street Viaduct now has its first span in place

Maltzan also discussed his built-in challenge for Angeleno cyclists, a group he counts himself among that has exploded since the beginning of the pandemic and plays a pivotal role in the city’s comprehensive 2035 mobility plan.

“You have to put in a bit of an effort to earn ...

The Brooklyn Bridge’s infrastructure improvements are kickstarting a renaissance for bicycling

2022-03-25T13:18:00-04:00

The Brooklyn Bridge finally caught up with the COVID-19-era rise in cycling last year after the city opened a dedicated bike path on the iconic span’s roadway. It was one of the signature initiatives in the final year of the Mayor Bill de Blasio administration, and advocates lauded the addition, which was also the first reconfiguration of the bridge since old trolley tracks were permanently removed in 1950.

Bicycle traffic on the bridge increased by more than a quarter from 2020 to last year. The jump is indicative of an overall city-wide trend, which has seen New Yorkers’ biking habits increase at a rate of 33%. The numbers likely correlate to the pandemic-era decrease in subway ridership caused by fears of viral contagion and an increase in violent incidents.

New York inaugurated 30 additional miles of dedicated bike paths in the past months, leading to a marked increase in traffic on the Manhattan and Queensboro Bridges (although DOT noted a minor decline in the use of the Williamsburg Bridge). The (almost) 139-year-old structure had previously only allowed for very uncomfortable biking on its crowded pedestrian walkway before construction was completed in the fall, after which the AMNY recorded a whopping 88% increase from the same months in 2020.

Gruen Associates, Mia Lehrer, Oyler Wu appointed to design L.A. River Greenway in San Fernando Valley

2016-07-20T20:27:00-04:00

Mayor Eric Garcetti's office released a statement yesterday announcing that Gruen Associates, Mia Lehrer + Associates, Oyler Wu Collaborative, and civil and structural engineering firm Psomas will design the final 12 miles of the San Fernando Valley portion of the Los Angeles River Greenway. The Greenway would allow Angelenos to walk or bike from Canoga Park to Elysian Valley.

No project renderings for now, as the designers will begin conducting a feasibility study over the next nine months. According to the press release, the Greenway “will address important objectives” in both the City’s/Frank Gehry's (still yet to be revealed) Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan as well as L.A. County’s River Master Plan, their Bicycle Plans, and Mayor Garcetti's Sustainable City pLAn.

The mayor and County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl will jointly fund the project, along with additional support from City Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield, Paul Krekorian, Nury Martinez and David Ryu, and the Depart...

Boris Johnson greenlights London's "Crossrail" bicycle superhighway

2015-01-29T15:10:00-05:00

Boris Johnson today confirmed he would build Europe’s longest segregated urban cycle lane through central London after delays likely to be suffered by motorists were reduced. The Mayor approved the “Crossrail for bikes” protected route through Parliament Square and along the Victoria Embankment and Upper Thames Street after it won overwhelming public support.

New Jersey's first protected bike lane about to be removed again

2014-12-26T13:15:00-05:00

Mt. Prospect Avenue in Newark has New Jersey’s first protected bike lane, as far as we know. But unfortunately it looks like the Garden State will soon be back to zero. Andrew Besold at WalkBikeJersey is reporting Mayor Ras Baraka has ordered the removal of the bike lane, and in the meantime is allowing people to park in it.

Bike Louisville implementing Neighborways, a city-wide bike boulevard system

2014-11-11T14:06:00-05:00

Louisville is currently implementing such a system, what the city’s bike department, Bike Louisville, is calling “Neighborways.” The city hopes these new bike boulevards will encourage and enable bicyclists and pedestrians to take advantage of alternate-route options for moving safely around the city—and eventually lead to an uptick in biking overall.

h/t StreetsBlog

The Bayou Greenways Plan: A Game-Changer for Houston?

2014-07-28T14:27:00-04:00

Houston’s Bayou Greenways plan is perhaps the largest active transportation project in the country right now — if residents can actually use it for transportation when it’s completed. Jen Powis of the Houston Parks Board has described the greenway project as a cross between the Atlanta Beltline and the Portland Bike Master Plan, which “re-envisions transportation” in the city.

The PeopleForBikes Green Lane Project celebrates national kick-off in Indianapolis

2014-04-29T18:19:00-04:00

The Green Lane Project, established in 2012 by non-profit group PeopleForBikes, continues its ambitious mission to expedite the process of building more protected bike lines with six new U.S. cities in tow: Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Seattle.

The program celebrated its national kickoff in Indianapolis today with transportation officials including U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, who discussed the Department's prioritization on improving bicycle and pedestrian safety as more Americans are looking for alternative methods of commuting.

Back in March, the program selected the six cities out of 100 that submitted letters of interest. In addressing each city's current situation, The Green Lane Project will provide each city with financial, strategic, and technical assistance in constructing the bike lanes, which are valued at more than $250,000. The on-street lanes are separated from traffic by curbs, planters, parked cars, or posts to help organize...

Bike Lanes Don’t Cause Traffic Jams If You’re Smart About Where You Build Them

2014-04-16T13:45:00-04:00

New bike lanes certainly make life better for cyclists, but how do they affect drivers? This question is hotly debated, especially when a new bike lane replaces a lane used by vehicular traffic. It seems that unless a ton of people start commuting by bicycle, giving away a lane would cause increased car traffic. But is this really the case?

Norman Foster unveils plans for elevated 'SkyCycle' bike routes in London

2014-01-02T19:25:00-05:00

Gliding through the air on a bike might so far be confined to the fantasy realms of singing nannies and aliens in baskets, but riding over rooftops could one day form part of your regular commute to work, if Norman Foster has his way. Unveiled this week, in an appropriately light-headed vision for the holiday season, SkyCycle proposes a network of elevated bike paths hoisted aloft above railway lines, allowing you to zip through town blissfully liberated from the roads.

Reshaping New York - How the city changed in 12 years of Bloomberg

2013-08-19T14:37:00-04:00

“We have beaten the odds and the obstructionists over and over again,” the mayor triumphantly declared in his State of the City address in March. He chose an appropriate venue: the Barclays Center, the new home of the Brooklyn Nets, which was a lightning rod for his all-out development policy. A vigorous opposition was beaten in the courts and the City Council in much the same way he often steamrolled opposition to his comprehensive rethinking of development.

While Mayor Bloomberg has attracted media attention recently for his contentious opinions on "stop and frisk" policing and city-wide bans on soda, it's hard to argue with the New York Times' interactive infographic on Bloomberg's twelve-year mayoral run, highlighting his drastic role in city development. A kind of long-form visual report card, the Times focuses on various building and city-planning projects around the city, emphasizing changes in residential complexes, rezoning policies, waterfront development, and bike infrastructure.

The refreshingly simple feature has the reader/viewer fly around a white-styrofoam-model New York City, with areas specific to Bloomberg's development plans highlighted in red. These perspectives are followed by before-and-after photos of details within the site, taken from within Bloomberg's residency.

Dedicated Bike Lanes Can Cut Cycling Injuries in Half

2012-11-01T15:34:00-04:00

As it turns out, infrastructure really matters. Your chance of injury drops by about 50 percent, relative to that major city street, when riding on a similar road with a bike lane and no parked cars. The same improvement occurs on bike paths and local streets with designated bike routes. And protected bike lanes – with actual barriers separating cyclists from traffic – really make a difference. The risk of injury drops for riders there by 90 percent.

In Denmark, Pedaling to Work on a Superhighway

2012-07-19T15:00:00-04:00

The cycle superhighway, which opened in April, is the first of 26 routes scheduled to be built to encourage more people to commute to and from Copenhagen by bicycle. More bike path than the Interstate its name suggests, it is the brainchild of city planners who were looking for ways to increase bicycle use in a place where half of the residents already bike to work or to school every day.

Winning Entry of Bike Path Design Contest in Caracas, Venezuela

2012-07-03T14:33:00-04:00

The proposal for a bike path system for Venezuela's capitol Caracas, designed by architects Andrea Hernández and Cruz Criollo, has won the first prize in the competition Metropolitan Transportation System, Caracas to Pedal. The best and most innovative proposals of this competition, which seeks to promote cycling in the city, were recently awarded by the Metropolitan Mayor of Caracas.