Marking a major departure for a city known for its over-reliance on cars, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday evening approved a 20-year transportation plan that aims to encourage walking, biking, and public transit over automobiles.
“The car capital of America is officially changing its tune,” wrote LA Weekly.
The ‘Mobility Plan 2035,’ described in the LA Times as “a sweeping policy shift,” calls for hundreds of miles of new bicycle lanes, bus-only lanes, and other road redesigns throughout the city. It targets about 10 percent of the city’s major streets for lane reductions.
ABC 7-Los Angeles reports that about 47 percent of trips taken in the city are less than 3 miles, and of those trips, 84 percent are taken by car. The city’s Environmental Impact Report suggested the plan, which passed the council 12-2, would reduce the amount of car travel by 1.7 million miles a day.
According to the LA Times, the plan (pdf) “also seeks to cut the fatality rate from traffic collisions to zero within 20 years, in part by keeping cars within the speed limits.”
Responses to the plan have been mixed. In advance of the vote, the MoveLA coalition said the plan was “excellent” because it “addresses the adverse health and environmental impacts of air pollution and climate change, and the question of how we can grow the city more sustainably.”
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“LA has been slow to join the worldwide movement to re-orient streets away from cars and back towards people and community life by prioritizing the safety of all road users and emphasizing the public right to use what are undeniably public spaces,” MoveLA’s Gloria Ohland wrote on Monday.
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