The LA River bike path – which dissects the massive west coast city in the US – will be completed within 10 years at a cost of A$500M.
The project is a difficult and costly engineering challenge. As anyone who watches the movies would have seen, the LA River is mostly a massive concrete channel.
Over the years bike trails have been built along various sections of the river, but the main section that runs just east of downtown LA has no bike facilities at all.
Now LA Metro, the local transport agency, has allocated the funding to build the final 13 km stretch from the Elysian Valley to Vernon.
The aim is a seamless 51 km grade-separated regional corridor for walking and bicycling through the heart of LA County, connecting Long Beach to the San Fernando Valley along the River.
Many of the neighbourhoods in the area surrounding the project corridor are predominately industrial in nature with high volumes of truck traffic, deteriorated roadways, a lack of sidewalks and street lighting, and at-grade rail crossings.
Additionally, there are freight and passenger train movements on tracks adjacent to the river along several segments of the corridor, which inhibit local mobility.
There is a population of over 200,000 people within 5 km of the project area. The area qualifies as a disadvantaged community based on the median household income. People in these neighbourhoods routinely walk or use a bike as their primary means of transportation.
The project is due to be completed in time for the 2028 Olympic Games in the city.
Become our friend
Find out more about Bicycle Network and support us in making it easier for people to ride bikes.