Healthy Living Programs
Healthy Communities

The cities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach are prioritizing policies that help make the healthy choice the easy choice.

Where we live, work, and play influences the choices we make. Creating healthy Beach Cities means creating surroundings where it’s easy for residents to make the healthy choice — from providing easier access to grocery stores than fast food restaurants, to providing bike lanes with direct access to work, retail centers, beaches and parks. Cities can support the health and vitality of citizens by introducing policies that nudge people into eating better and moving more.

Blue Zones Project has helped to spearhead projects in the Beach Cities that have resulted in more than $8.1 million in grants being awarded for livability projects that help make active transportation easier.

What’s more, the improvements that make a community more walkable and bikeable tend to be long-lasting. Sidewalks and bike lanes endure for years — even decades — improving the community’s livability well into the future.

Since 2010, the Beach Cities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach have:

  • Adopted the Beach Cities Livability Plan (Fall 2011)
  • Adopted the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan (Fall 2011)
  • Completed preliminary analysis to assess feasibility of bike lanes on Aviation Boulevard
  • Participated in “Bike to Lunch” event on national “Bike to Work” Day
  • On behalf of the Cities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, Beach Cities Health District's Livability Committee applied for and won two grants to support livability projects: 1) Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Sustainability Planning Grant – Bicycle Mini-Corral Plan project - $40,000 and 2) SCAG Transportation Planning Grant – Aviation Boulevard Multi-Modal Corridor Plan - $277,000

Successes in the Beach Cities:

HERMOSA BEACH

 
  • First city in the U.S. to adopt a Living Streets Policy that was later recognized by the National Complete Streets Coalition as the 2nd strongest among the more than 100 Complete Streets policies adopted that year in the U.S.
  • Installed bike racks at 14th Street and The Strand as well as at additional city locations
  • Implemented a Safe Routes to School project by installing wider sidewalks on 16th Street
  • Installed sharrows (shared lane markings) on Monterey Avenue and Longfellow Avenue
  

MANHATTAN BEACH

 
  • Installed bike lanes on Rosecrans Avenue between Highland and Sepulveda and on Manhattan Avenue between 1st and 8th Street, and installed Bike Route sign and sharrows on Manhattan Avenue
  • Partnered with the Metropolitan Water District to “green” the Manhattan Pier and replace landscaping at City Hall, Post Office and Chamber of Commerce with drought-tolerant plants
  • Implemented a Safe Routes to School project by retrofitting pedestrian countdown signals, installing reflective signs and replacing crosswalks
  

REDONDO BEACH

 
  • Built a protected bike path on the west side of North Harbor Drive, connecting cyclists from The Strand to the Redondo Pier; and implemented a “road diet” with safety improvements on Herondo Street
  • Implemented a Complete Streets project to make bike and pedestrian infrastructure improvements to the Esplanade
  • Enhanced lighting at the Redondo Pier, making it safer and more pedestrian friendly, and installed 30 bike racks to the Pier/Harbor area
  

For information about Blue Zones Project's Streets for All campaign visit, bchd.org/streetsforall

Additional Resources
Model Design Manual for Living Streets 
Bicycle Friendly Communities: Lessons from Los Angeles County 
Planning Complete Streets for an Aging America
Beach Cities Livability Plan
South Bay Bicycle Master Plan 
AARP Livable Communities