Santa Monica City Council Plans to Wreck 14th Street For Traffic, The Same Way They Wrecked 17th Street

Santa Monica City Council is set to green-light the next concrete-and-bike-lane makeover Tuesday night - this time on 14th Street.

On the consent calendar for the 5:30 p.m. meeting is a nearly $2 million design contract with Kimley-Horn for a "14th Street Two-way Protected Bikeway." Staff wants Council to award the work, declare it categorically exempt from environmental review, and authorize the money. Unless someone pulls the item, it could sail through with almost no debate.

That's how these projects start. Design first. Concrete later. Neighbors last. Same playbook as 17th Street. This is the 17th Street sequel. They're already awarding a contract on Tuesday Night's City Council meeting. If you own a car in Santa Monica, you better raise hell now.

Santa Monica City Council Plans to Wreck 14th Street For Traffic, The Same Way They Wrecked 17th Street

A few years ago the city rebuilt 17th Street with curb-protected bike lanes, concrete islands, and parked cars shoved between the sidewalk and the travel lane. Bike groups loved it. The city collected awards. People who live on the street called it a concrete obstacle course.

Handicapped spots disappeared. Elderly and disabled residents said they couldn't get in and out of cars because the barrier and bike lane now sat between them and the curb. Emergency vehicles answering calls to senior facilities ended up blocking a whole lane. Drivers turning into driveways complained they couldn't see cyclists. Parking vanished. Traffic stacked up.

A petition gathered hundreds of signatures. Neighbors said the city finished pouring concrete and then told them it was too late to change it.

Now City Hall wants the same treatment on 14th Street - a two-way protected bikeway paid for in part with state Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities grant money that also covers housing and electric buses. "Protected" in this town usually means concrete curbs, lost parking, and narrower space for cars.

Tuesday night is the quiet first step

The item on Tuesday's agenda is not the final construction vote. It is the design contract - the moment the city locks in the consultant who will draw the lanes, the barriers, and the parking losses. Once that work is underway, reversing course gets a lot harder and a lot more expensive.

Staff is recommending a five-year agreement not to exceed $1,999,205. Future-year money still needs budget approval, but the direction is clear: plan the two-way protected facility and move it toward construction.

Santa Monica has been doing this street by street - 17th, 26th, Broadway, Colorado. 14th is next. Drivers who actually use these roads every day know what that means: more barriers, fewer parking spots, slower emergency access, and another neighborhood street redesigned around a bike track instead of the people who live there.

If Council rubber-stamps the contract Tuesday night, the concrete conversation is only beginning. Residents who remember 17th Street already know how it ends.