Crime & Safety

DOT Official: LAFD Has 'No Concerns' About Bike Lanes

Tim Fremaux, a Los Angeles Department of Transportation bikeways engineer who has been going around local neighborhood councils giving presentations about the planned installation of bike lanes along Colorado Boulevard and Figueroa Street, has some news for Eagle Rock residents and stakeholders on both sides of the contentious bike lanes debate: The Los Angeles Fire Department has “no concerns” about the transformation of auto traffic lanes to bicycle passageways.

In an e-mail from Fremaux forwarded to Eagle Rock Patch by an Eagle Rock resident close to the bike lanes discussions, the bikeways engineer says he spoke with Luke Milick, a Los Angeles Fire Department captain, about the possible impact of bike lanes on the LAFD’s response operations.

“Captain Milick has no concerns associated with re-striping of roadways to include bike lanes, regardless of whether these projects involve removing traffic lanes,” Fremaux wrote in his e-mail.

Milick is the commander of the LAFD’s Hydrant and Access Unit, which partly oversees issues related to the right of Fire vehicles, Fremaux said in a phone conversation with Patch.

“He basically said that the bicycle striping on the street does not interfere with either Fire vehicles or bicycles having to pull over out of the way” for Fire trucks,” Fremaux told Patch.

In Milick’s own words, the captain is “the only person anyone should talk to [at] LAFD with respect to fire access and roadways,” Fremaux wrote, adding: “Captain Milick mentioned that we can reference his name and the discussion we had with him whenever this issue comes up Citywide.”

Many people believe that the installation of bike lanes will slow down traffic, causing congestions that will be an impediment to fire trucks during emergencies.

Earlier this month, for example, Ron Sanfilippo, captain of Eagle Rock Fire Station 42, expressed his personal concern about the adverse impact of bike lanes on traffic congestion. Filippo clarified, however, that his professional point of view bike lanes would not hinder the LAFD's responses to emergencies.


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