Foothill News and Bike Report, Part II

For the new year I thought maybe a little spin along Foothill Boulevard to document the new improvements was in order. You may remember, four months ago when I last rode to take photos of the progress, there were still many areas of construction. Things are mostly finished now, certainly as far as the bike lanes go. As you watch the slideshow there are some things to take note of: 

1. The curb cuts so that water drains from the street / separated bike lane into the cobble bio-swales in the adjacent planters. (Though my focus was the bike lane side of the street, the medians also have curb cuts strategically located for drainage). Interestingly, some of the bioswales, especially between Mountain and Berkeley on the south side where the planter slopes to the street, look like they will drain the other way - toward the bike lane rather than from it. I would be interested in seeing them in action.

2. New bike racks. The locations, mostly, correspond to Foothill Transit bus stops; the one exception seems to be the two racks at the Robert Redford Conservancy. The simple oval racks match the racks used throughout the rest of the city providing a visual continuity. New racks are located, on the north side of Foothill, just west of Mills Avenue, the Conservancy, and just west of Indian Hill. On the south side of Foothill, a single rack occurs at Mills / entry to Harvey Mudd College.

3. Door zone markings. Because parking was retained along the south side of Foothill where business exist east from Indian Hill, and along Harvey Mudd College, the Class II bike lane has three lines. When they first appeared I thought, oops, someone messed up, but then realized the third lines marks the door zone. Why the line changes from solid (closer to Indian Hill) to dashed further east, I don't know; the only thing I can think of is that oops, someone messed up.

4. That one problem spot that had a car blocking access to the protected bike lane, I noted four months ago, has been resolved with a no parking sign. There are still some places were, I think, a red-painted curb would be good.

5. Plants have already begun to fill in. Love them or loathe them, the natives and other low water use plants were the sustainable way to go. They are also a nice tie-in to the Santa Ana Botanic Garden and the Bernard Biological Field Station.

6. Note the new lights in the new low retaining wall along the north side of Foothill just before Mountain. You don't very often see enhancements like that for pedestrians. After the fact, I wondered how they are powered.

7. The storm drain grates. Though the perforations run parallel to the path of travel I don't think they will cause problems, but I wonder why they couldn't have been turned perpendicular.

The slideshow below starts at the city's eastern boundary at Monte Vista Avenue, and travels west to Mountain Avenue (the bike lane continues west as far as Towne Avenue at the city's western boundary). At Mountain, the photos continue along the south side of Foothill back to Monte Vista.

Foothill Improvements from Michael Wagner on Vimeo.

All in all, I think the city is to be congratulated on the Foothill Boulevard improvements. As it has for years now, Claremont continues to lead the way in providing transportation improvements for bicyclists, making it both easier, and safer, for everyone to travel along the city's streets. Rather than attempting to shunt bicyclists off to side streets the city has taken the bold move of providing safe access along its primary east / west corridor.

Keep in mind that this is not a one-off gimmick either, the Foothill bike lanes intersect the bike lanes running north and/or south on Mountain, Berkeley, College, Dartmouth, Claremont and Monte Vista. The bike lanes on those streets, in turn, connect to bike lanes on other east / west streets such as Baseline, Arrow and of course, the Citrus Regional Bikeway on Bonita, to form a highly inclusive network.