The Santa Monica Beat: Musings from the West Coast

Melissa Hege, AICP of South Florida-based Melissa Hege City Planning LLC. highlights Santa Monica, California's successful implementation of creating great street environments.

And above is another example of how the bike lane is integrated into the city street. The broken white lines along the parking lane provide an additional alert of potential cyclists. And further up the street, the bike lane markings are broken to show a shift in the lane alignment. Simple and clever!

And here is my absolute favorite. The plantings in the medians and sidewalks are quintessential California. What a picturesque path for the cyclist fortunate enough to be in Santa Monica.

And for the pedestrian, there is an equally charming path to cross this lovely street to the Art Deco City Hall. Not only is there an adorable “look” sign- a throwback to the streets of London, but there are four changes in pavement material including a kind of rumble strip and a decorative sewer grate. Just gorgeous! Clearly Santa Monica is using European models for their street details.

Santa Monica takes street crossing design to the next level at an intersection between the Third Street Promenade, the city’s pedestrian only shopping district. This design (called a scramble) is even more beautiful because of the colored granite material and the simple bollards. And, of course, the regal quality of the buildings give the illusion that you are in a European plaza.