By Brian Berlin — Advocates for protected bike lanes may think the anti-woke mob is coming for them. In California, citizen uprisings have forced municipalities to undo existing bike lane projects.
A petition in Glendale, California forced a City Council vote on whether to terminate the North Brand Boulevard bike lanes project. In December 2024, the Council obliged and voted four-to-one to remove the lanes and restore the half-mile section to its previous configuration.
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However, the hysteria about a culture war on bike lanes may be overblown.
Councilman Dan Brotman, who cast the dissenting vote, denies the project reversal has been the “death knell” of future mobility projects in Glendale.
“It certainly has taught us some lessons about how we how we roll things out”, he told me. “…but it hasn’t stopped any project we’re working on”.
Brotman cited the La Crescenta Avenue Rehabilitation Project, 1.7 miles of bike facilities including protected and buffered bike lanes. The project is under construction and expected to be completed by March 2026.
“While it (La Crescenta) did get us to do more work to explain the night and day differences with North Brand”, Brotman explained, “it has not been dialed back in any way.”
