City officials need help counting bicyclists and pedestrians this week.

During the two-day Bike and Pedestrian Count, volunteers and city employees will manually count the number of bicyclists, pedestrians and electric scooter riders across dozens of key intersections in Long Beach. The counters also track their behavior, including helmet use and wrong-way riding, according to city officials.

The count, which takes place on Thursday, Oct. 27 and Saturday, Oct. 29, is one of the longest-running counts in the nation.

Transportation planners and traffic engineers then use the data from the count for future transportation network design, as well as to check the effectiveness and popularity of specific types of bikeways and for targeted public safety campaigns.

“An accurate count helps the City analyze how our community uses our roads and public spaces,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a statement. “This is an important effort that will help us improve the design of our streets and make recommendations for new projects.”

Pedestrian and bicyclist safety is a major factor in the city’s $36.2 million redesign of a 3.2-mile stretch of Artesia Boulevard in North Long Beach. The project includes medians, pedestrian bulb-outs that will shorten the distance of crosswalks and new bike lanes that will be protected by on-street parking and new pedestrian signals that will allow people to cross the street safely at intersections without signals.

Last month, residents of the Washington neighborhood called on city officials for action after multiple children were hit by cars in the span of two weeks. And of the 35 traffic collision deaths reported by the LBPD so far this year, 20 have involved the death of a pedestrian.

Those interested in volunteering for the count can sign up online through Oct. 26. Volunteers must be available to participate in the count at one or more of the following times:

  • 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022
  • 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022
  • Noon to 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022

Volunteers can choose their preferred location when signing up, according to city officials. They will also receive bike and pedestrian count forms and instructions electronically or by mail. The completed forms can then be scanned and returned via email or snail mail.

‘Great Boulevard’ project will transform stretch of Artesia in North Long Beach

Anthony Pignataro is an investigative reporter and editor for the Long Beach Post. He has close to three decades of experience in journalism leading numerous investigations and long-form journalism projects for the OC Weekly and other publications. He joined the Post in May 2021.