Happy new year to all those loyal Streetsblog Los Angeles readers, especially the ones who have donated to keep SBLA strong. It is not too late for the rest of you to donate - click here.
Prediction is difficult, especially about the future and about travel forecasting. But there are a few big changes on the near-term horizon that will expand livability in Southern California. Below is a quick timeline of some of the big stories SBLA can foresee materializing in 2016.
A new Sixth Street Bridge is on the way. Image via Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement project
The Sixth Street Bridge Makes Way For Its Replacement
Downtown L.A.'s historic 1932 Sixth Street Viaduct will be closed this month, with demolition anticipated to begin in February. It is sad to see this icon go, but the new bridge (coming in three years) will be iconic, and billed to be bigger and better for driving, bicycling and walking.
Mobility Plan Faces Showdowns
L.A.'s multi-modal Mobility Plan 2035 keeps facing off with opponents and keeps getting re-re-approved. Ahead in early 2016, it faces a second lawsuit and a suite of hostile amendments. When the plan survives, hopefully-more-or-less intact, can L.A. finally get some of those luxury transit lanes implemented post-haste?
Venice Boulevard To Get Protected Bike Lanes
As part of its Great Streets re-vamp, expected by Spring 2016, Venice Boulevard is getting protected bike lanes from Beethoven Street to Inglewood Boulevard in Mar Vista.
CicLAvia Opens New Streets
CicLAvia takes to the Northern San Fernando Valley on March 6th. The popular festival will also do: Watts / Southeast cities - May 15th, Wilshire Boulevard - August 7, and Heart of L.A. - October 9. More similar events on the horizon, including Golden Streets on 17 miles of the San Gabriel Valley on June 26.
Metro To Reorganize Bus Service For Frequent Network
Metro is working on a significant re-organization of its bus service, called the Strategic Bus Network Plan or SBNP, expected to be implemented in July 2016. It's complicated, but basically, Metro will eliminate some under-performing lines, improve frequency on other lines, hand off some lines, eliminate some stops, and allow for a bit more peak crowding on some already frequent bus lines, and - voila! - the overall system will carry more riders for no additional cost. Houston recently implemented a similar re-org and is already seeing positive results. Can Metro do the same?
Just about the same time as I thought of doing this post, the Militant Angeleno had already posted a similar one. I probably noticed MA's post on social media and unwittingly plagiarized the idea before knowingly stealing some of his content.
Transit ridership and freeway funding are up. $14 million for MicroTransit was postponed. South Bay C Line extension draws both controversy and support. Law enforcement, Taylor Swift, bus lanes, and more!