It’s been close to four decades since Los Angeles County mapped out a plan to create more bicycle paths and lanes. The last time was in 1975. On Tuesday, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved a new Bicycle Master Plan that would make the unincorporated areas of the county friendlier for bikes and the people who ride them.



The plan calls for more than 800 miles of new bikeways, including paths for bikes and pedestrians, as well as lanes marked just for cyclists on regular streets.

Alexis Lantz of the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition applauded county staff for making the plan more aggressive.

"More and more people are cycling," Lantz told KPCC. "Gas prices are over four dollars a gallon and creating environments where people of all ages and ability can bicycle to access transit, to access jobs, is really important."

The plan will cost about $330 million over 20 years. The Board approved it on a 4-0 vote. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich abstained with a number of questions about whether that funding would take away from other transit projects.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky called the plan a work in progress.

"We have a real sound plan, that will give us a real roadmap — no pun intended — to take our bicycle planning and implementation to a new level," Yaroslavsky said.



Because the plan only covers the unincorporated areas of L.A. County, Yaroslavsky said the cities nearby must roll out their own bike plans.