There are new protected bike lanes on First Street extending from Boyle Heights to Little Tokyo. Right now, the project is only on the westbound lane, heading into downtown.
The new lane extends 0.6-mile from Mission Road to Alameda Street. On the First Street Bridge, the lanes have a wide buffer - perhaps a sign that some protection is coming soon? West of the bridge, the lanes are protected by plastic bollards. The facility includes a bus-boarding island near Alameda.
The new bike lane runs along a proposed transit-oriented joint development that would be on two properties, one (the new Little Tokyo Station) owned by Metro and the other (a larger parcel north of First and east of Alameda) owned by the city of Los Angeles. This week, the Metro board is expected to approve an item [Metro staff report] that would put an agreement in place for the city to proceed with a joint-development process for both sites. An earlier joint development proposal (for just the Metro site) failed to proceed due to Little Tokyo opposition.
The new partially-protected Centinela facility is a welcome safety upgrade for a stretch that long lacked any type of bikeway, but the area remains not all that bike-friendly
Bike Month continues, Metro 91 Freeway widening, Destination Crenshaw, Culver City Bus, Santa Monica MANGo, Metro bike lockers, Metro Sepulveda Transit, and more
Short newly protected bike lane on Laurel Canyon Blvd, extensive NSFV bus improvements under construction this month, and scaled-back G Line plans should get that project under construction this summer