It's time for BCHD to pay back wasted Measure M funds and turn the bike path over to the Cities

BCHD and the Bike Path

Sat, Jun 3, 2023 at 12:39 PM

To: tliu@scng.com

Cc: gormank@metro.net, executiveoffice@bos.lacounty.gov, BoardClerk@metro.net

As you seem to be aware from your article, BCHD filed for $1.8M from Metro in Measure M funds to complete the sections of bike path Beryl & Flagler across Flagler St through Flagler Alley and down Diamond St to Prospect Ave. That is approximately 1200-feet at a cost of $1500 per foot for a bike lane. The California Policy Center estimates the following for adding a full mile of freeway lane, "according to the HERS analysis, adding a new lane to an interstate on flat terrain in a rural area costs $2.7 million per lane mile." That's $500 per foot starting from bare ground. In BCHD's case it proposed over twice that amount per foot beginning with already completed roads and alley. UNC Chapel Hill studies show costs of $50 to $100 per foot for bike lanes on existing roadway. Using the highest estimate from UNC, this project should have cost $120,000 - not $1.8M. Clearly BCHD is using this project to improve it's own land to the north of the bike path by completing deferred maintenance of its own sliding hillside using Measure M funding. BCHD now proposes to spend a total of $1.2M on just the Redondo Beach portion. That measures about 400-feet. 200-feet is completed 4-lane street that only requires repair and painting (Diamond St). The other 200-feet is a former alley that requires some dirt removal from a lack of maintenance by BCHD (the hillside was sliding and BCHD ignored it) and then repair and paint. BCHD estimated cost of $1.2M ($400,000 for BCHD overheads, management and planning plus $800,000 for contractors and experts) yields $3000 per foot cost. That's 6-times the cost of a FREEWAY LANE starting from BARE DIRT. Whether or not the bike path is a good idea, the execution by BCHD is excessively expensive. BCHD has no expertise nor experience and has demonstrated that with its excessive cost of a tiny bike path project. Someone needs to step up and protect the Measure M funds, force BCHD to reimburse the $400,000 its wasted on planning, and turn this project over to the two cities for efficient cost and construction. Mark Nelson Redondo Beach cc: Metro Inspector General, Metro Board, LA County Board of Supervisors