L.A. announces ambitious bikeway project

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- There are ambitious plans for new bikeways in the city of Los Angeles.

"Aside from the fact that we'll actually be making the streets safer for bicyclists, the city has recognized today that bicyclists are important," said L.A. cyclist Ted Rogers.

The city of Los Angeles celebrated its unanimous adoption of the city's master bicycle plan Wednesday. The goal is to construct more than 1,600 miles of bikeways across the city.

"Every time somebody's on a bicycle, they reduce traffic, they reduce pollution, so this is about changing our city streets to make it just as friendly to a bicyclist as it is to a driver," said L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti.

The city has pledged to build 40 miles of bikeways in a year. That's four times more than what has been done in the past.

"We have roughly $3.7 million a year to work with that's committed to this," said L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl. "We got money out of Measure R and we have a commitment to spend it on doing this."

And with prices rising at the pump, advocates feel it's been long overdue.

"I love to say that L.A. leads the country and the world in a number of areas but this hasn't been one of them," said L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "This will give L.A. an opportunity to be a world-class bicycling city, a city that encourages people to get out of their cars and onto bikes."

Now it's going to be even easier to integrate riding your bike and use the transit systems.

"They can just ride to a Park and Ride lot and then use public transit in combination with cycling," said L.A. cyclist Dave Sotero. "It's kind of like a one-two knockout punch to keep the car at home."

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