WESTWOOD—UCLA is about to become more bike friendly. On Saturday, May 23, a newly-constructed bike lane will be completed along Westwood Plaza, a major thoroughfare on UCLA’s campus. The lane will extend from Le Conte Avenue to Charles E. Young Drive South, and is close to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
Canyon News spoke with David J. Karwaski, the senior associate director at UCLA Transportation, and he provided the following information about the project.
He indicated that UCLA Transportation is providing the $250,000 budget for the project, which includes resurfacing the asphalt ($160,000) and striping the lanes with thermotape ($90,000). There is a Phase II of the project that won’t be completed until the spring of 2016; the bike lane will be extended from Charles E. Young Drive to the Ackerman Turnaround, which is currently closed due to the construction of the Luskin Conference Center.
When asked if this project will affect traffic conditions along Westwood Plaza, Kawaski said, “Not much. A detailed traffic engineering study was conducted to determine viability of adding bike lanes by restriping existing lanes, with an eye toward ensuring smooth vehicle traffic flow.”
He added, the six traffic lanes will be reduced to four lanes, with “minimal impact to traffic flow.”
