K/W/605

Los Alamitos CA

Description

8/17/21 - Apart from most of the construction signs coming down, there has been essentially no progress on the Katella to Willow artery. The needs listed in my Oct. 2019 post remain. The brush going west from 605 is so badly overgrown it is a hazard because it forces a bicyclist into the right traffic lane. City and county are not responding, so please contribute in your own way (phone, email, visit city hall, caltrans, etc.) and let them know your concerns. ======== 10/21/19 - A couple of years ago I noticed it can be kind of risky to ride a bike along Katella Ave., the main drag between Los Alamitos and Long Beach. Maybe after reading this you might feel emboldened to try this circuit on your bike, hmmm. All I can say is I hope you have good strength, excellent reflexes and a perfect sense of timing. If you don't feel like endangering yourself (seriously), much of this route is visible on Google Earth and other places. As most of you undoubtedly already know, going west the name changes to Willow St. after the Coyote Creek bridge. I did mention that bike riding in traffic here can be a little iffy at times, and have tried to get authorities involved so that cyclist safety could be improved a notch or two upwards. Thought it might be easy for crews to lay down some green paint, warning signs, a sharrow or two, make a continuous bike lane, but nothing I've said has swayed cities/counties or Caltrans. Compare this situation to downtown L.A., which recently rigged up Figueroa and Spring streets with dedicated cycletracks, sensors and signals, and even solid barriers from cars from USC to 7th/Metro. Back to K/W/605, you might argue that you've seen worse places riding your bike around soCal and might say well, conditions here are y'know almost OK. And a cyclist who has all of that momentum, maneuverability, youth, skill or what-you-will can zoom through on a fast roadie. With few worries from potholes or debris. Even though there are two-lane-wide dedicated off and onramp lanes on the street itself, eb and wb. First-timers are all but guaranteed a white-knuckle experience with active traffic. Most (but not all) drivers are cool and respectful to bikes. So I got to taking a closer look at this strip from the viewpoint of any pedestrian and/or disabled folks who might try to use this as an actual street - which officially is what it is. Or maybe someone's car broke down here, or beamed down from the Enterprise, etc. The picture turns grimmer from such a perspective. I took the pics in this post (will repost at later time) from Oct. '17 to Apr. '19, and have room for just 24 in this post. The series starts with the semi-truck on Katella (at around the Oak signal), goes west about 1.5 miles to the LB cycling hiway sign (CSULB/Cerritos) at Willow/Studebaker, turns around and heads back east to the no-ped barrier at the freeway signal just inside Rossmoor on Katella. The dirt/iceplant triangle next to the sb 605 onramp is in fact the continuing path from the ADA-spec wheelchair ramps. There are no crosswalks over any of the ramps going west, and the eastbound side at the interchange seems permanently closed - because the construction sign has been there over three years now. No one does brush clearance along the shoulder (only inside the cloverleafs), and almost all sidewalks on the LB side are non-existent, or dirt or grass. Yes, watch your kids very closely if walking on either side of the Coyote Creek bridge. Update 10/21/19: The progress noted in August has stopped. Even the shrubbery just beofre the Coyote Creek bridge going west has begun to grow back into the RH lane. Update 8/20/19: The temporary chain-link fencing and other temporary mesh on the Coyote Creek railings is now gone. There are now nice shiny bars have been welded in place, this permanent repair on both sides was recently made. And the heavy brush on the westbound side approaching Coyote Creek has been cut back to a tolerable amount. Incidentally these recent fixes took about one year of calls and emails to officials (see newer pics at bottom). Continuing my August 20 coverage: The unimproved approaches to the ADA-spec wheelchair ramps are just how they appear in pics taken almost two years ago. There are still no crosswalks over any of the ramps going west. Caltrans does not seem to believe the eastbound totemic sign is inaccurate in the least, for an 'explanation' they say the construction zone refers to something going on miles to the south at the 605/405/22 mega-interchange. No explanation has ever been offer by the state for the eastbound 'sidewalk closed' sign, despite the very chancy striped three crosswalks across the ramps - which should (but almost can't) safely get walkers and wheelchairs to Rossmoor. Long Beach is the much-vaunted USA no. 1 cycling city and so on, OC has fewer dedicated lanes but generally wider streets. A truthful (if a bit medieval) cycling map would have a 'there be dragons here' at the fringes of LB and Los Al at the area around the 605 interchange. Pedestrians and disabled folks deserve a much better set of circumstances here. How could K/W-605 be changed for the better? get a good look at Seal Beach Blvd as it crosses the 405/22 as modified and improved recently, both directions are up to 20th-century standards. Yes I know the 20th century was around 20 years ago, which is my point.