By Darrell Clarke Santa Monica
Kudos to Bill Bauer for seeking to keep California’s transportation funding intact (“City politicians stall traffic improvements,” July 30), but I’d question adding traffic lanes to Lincoln Boulevard.
Isn’t a simpler solution to Santa Monica’s traffic and parking congestion to have more people come into the city without bringing their cars with them? Bus-only lanes can provide a speed incentive to ride instead of drive, plus greater people-carrying capacity.
That was the recommendation of the 2002-03 Lincoln Corridor Task Force. Its near-term recommendations were to use the opportunity of existing parking lanes in Venice and Ocean Park for peak-period bus-and bike-only lanes, plus to underground the power lines and add landscaped medians.
Santa Monica Big Blue Bus already operates four #3 buses and another four Rapid 3 buses per direction on Lincoln during peak periods. The ones I’ve seen are crowded beyond their 40 seats, carrying around 400 people per hour, despite being stuck in slow traffic.
A boulevard lane maxes out at around 750 vehicles per hour, but a new mixed-flow curb lane would carry fewer, with cars stuck behind frequently stopping buses, whereas a dedicated bus lane can easily expand capacity with more buses and/or longer ones.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 3, 2007. Read the original PDF.