LADOT installs bicycle corral on Broxton Avenue

The curbside of Broxton Avenue has a new accessory – a bike corral installed earlier this month to make bicycle parking easier for workers and customers in Westwood Village.

The bicycle corral, added by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, is an on-street bicycle parking facility that can accommodate more bicycles than a typical sidewalk bike rack, said Tina Backstrom, spokesperson for the LADOT.

The corral, which can store up to 14 bikes, occupies about 20 feet on the street and has additional bars that block the enclosed space from any foot traffic.

The city paid about $12,500 to install the corral and the Westwood Village Improvement Association is responsible for maintaining the structure.

The Westwood Village Improvement Association approached the LADOT a few months earlier to install the bike corral and was placed on a waiting list, Backstrom said.

Andrew Thomas, the executive director of the association, said the parking and access committee under the Business Improvement District wanted to install a bike corral to make parking easier for bicycles and make the neighborhood more bike-friendly.

Backstrom said she thinks bike corrals can be better than racks in areas that see a large influx of pedestrians, so it would be impractical to install a sidewalk rack on such streets.

Backstrom added that the bike corral is part of the Los Angeles City Council’s Great Streets Initiative, which aims to increase public safety and make neighborhoods and public spaces more accessible. Corral requests are administered on a first-come, first-served basis, she added.

Stephen Resnick, secretary of the Westwood Neighborhood Council, said his council was only partially involved in the corral planning process.

“The City Council and the (Westwood Village Improvement Association) made all decisions about the bike corrals, and the topic was never discussed by the general Westwood community,” Resnick said.

Resnick added that on Sept. 10, the council passed a motion that approved the bike corral but wanted it to be blue. He said he thinks most members of the council felt like they should have been consulted before the corrals were installed.

Amy Chen, a third-year statistics student said she thinks the bike corral will be convenient for students.

“My friend, her bike just got stolen yesterday so it might be easier to have such (structures),” Chen said.

Mike Mallare, a user of the bike corral in Westwood, said he heard about the corral because he follows social media accounts that promote making Los Angeles more bike friendly.

“Westwood isn’t particularly bike friendly because there are few bike lanes available,” Mallare said.

If the bike corral on Broxton is widely used, the Westwood Village Improvement Association will consider installing more in the neighborhood, Thomas said.