23rd Street, Santa Monica. August 9, 2026, a driver in a green truck runs over bollards in the protected bike lane. On August 19, Councilmember Dan Hall reports that the Santa Monica Police Department “has identified the vehicle and owner. They have had the vehicle towed for expired registration and are following up with the owner on the vandalism of public property.” @electdanhal
Santa Monica has built 119 of the 187 miles of bikeway in its Bike Action Plan. Roughly five of those miles are protected. The half-mile on 23rd Street is protected by plastic barriers called “armadillos” while other areas, such as 17th Street are protected by concrete curbs.
I live near enough to know the layout and while it’s mostly just colored line, the streets are still usually bike friendly, assuming you don’t see this nonsense.
What SM did was actually reduce parking to the point that it forced biking or bussing (and made permits for remaining spots, lol). Driving remains is almost all single lane torture with a 25 mph limit, single because when I was a kid it was two lanes and they decided they wanted a dedicated bike lane (specifically thinking Broadway but probably others).
SM is a small place, too. A ton of those miles are in residential areas with little room for expansion.
23rd Street, Santa Monica. August 9, 2026, a driver in a green truck runs over bollards in the protected bike lane. On August 19, Councilmember Dan Hall reports that the Santa Monica Police Department “has identified the vehicle and owner. They have had the vehicle towed for expired registration and are following up with the owner on the vandalism of public property.” @electdanhal Santa Monica has built 119 of the 187 miles of bikeway in its Bike Action Plan. Roughly five of those miles are protected. The half-mile on 23rd Street is protected by plastic barriers called “armadillos” while other areas, such as 17th Street are protected by concrete curbs.
Lol, 119 miles just a colored line, 5 miles this useless stuff? So none are actually protected
May be wrong
I live near enough to know the layout and while it’s mostly just colored line, the streets are still usually bike friendly, assuming you don’t see this nonsense.
What SM did was actually reduce parking to the point that it forced biking or bussing (and made permits for remaining spots, lol). Driving remains is almost all single lane torture with a 25 mph limit, single because when I was a kid it was two lanes and they decided they wanted a dedicated bike lane (specifically thinking Broadway but probably others).
SM is a small place, too. A ton of those miles are in residential areas with little room for expansion.
Sounds great. Make them actually protected and you have a neighborhood where people want to live and cars are unwelcome.