The real story behind BCHD's bike path

BCHD’s bike path project was rife with misstatements, missteps, cost overruns, and delays from the start.

Here are some facts about the project.

In Jan. 2019, the BCHD Board passed a resolution before approving their grant application to Metro stating that the bike path is “an integral component" of the Healthy Living Campus project and included the path in it's NOP for their environmental impact review of the HLC. BCHD later claimed the bike path project was “a separate project” and not part of the controversial HLC project before releasing their draft EIR, thus no environmental studies were done.
BCHD applied for the grant from Metro without the full approval of the City of Torrance, even though most of the path was to be located in Torrance. According to the City of Torrance Public Works Traffic Meeting staff report (11/7/22):
- “BCHD did not inform the City of Torrance Public Works-Engineering Division of the grant award…In fact, there was no outreach from BCHD to Torrance Public Works Engineering Division prior to BCHD preparing and submitting its grant application. This is an ongoing concern for Torrance Public Works staff given the majority of the BCHD proposed project is within the City of Torrance.”
~ 5 years between grant request and completion
BCHD spent 18 months submitting incomplete information to Metro about project status and completion date, per review of Metro records.
The Redondo Beach bike path costs more to build per foot than a freeway.
- Nearly 100% of the $1.8M grant money was spent on only one-third of the originally approved project.

Bottom line: the resulting bike lane is dangerous to bike riders and residents

Increase use exposes bike riders to oncoming traffic at the intersection at Towers St and Flagler Lane.
With low visibility on a blind curve, there is greater likelihood of accidents.
Groups of students on e-bikes are regularly seen going headlong into the traffic lane, forcing cars to stop suddenly.

Why was BCHD involved?

If BCHD can’t manage a little project, how can they manage a big one?

Other Resources:

Torrance City Government

Local Media