Downtown L.A. Celebrates New Protected Bike Lanes On Los Angeles Street

Deputy Mayor Barbara Romero and LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds take a celebratory ride in the Los Angeles Street protected bikeway. All photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.
Deputy Mayor Barbara Romero and LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds take a celebratory ride in the Los Angeles Street protected bikeway. All photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.

Downtown L.A. now has protected bike lanes! Woooot! Wooooot!

Not just a block-long tunnel, but full-on grown-up Euro-style protected bike lanes. The newly opened half-mile-long Los Angeles Street protected bike lanes feature bicycle signals, floating bus stop islands, neon-green merge zones and two-phase left turn markings, not to mention freshly resurfaced pavement. All just in time for the launch of Metro bike-share on July 7.

Councilmember Jose Huizar and other city leaders officially opened the new facility yesterday afternoon. Huizar connected the low-stress bikeway with his DTLA Forward campaign, which will include additional protected lanes on Spring and Main Streets. Department of Transportation (LADOT) General Manager Seleta Reynolds spoke of the symbolic importance of these lanes connecting with early Los Angeles’s focal plaza, plus Union Station, City Hall, and even Caltrans’ Southern California headquarters. The ribbon-cutting event even featured a small fleet of Metro bike-share bikes available to test ride.

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L.A. City Councilmember Jose Huizar addressing the crowd assembled at El Pueblo

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Dignitaries cut the ribbon on the new bike lanes. Left to right are: Deputy Mayor Barbara Romero, Board of Public Works President Kevin James, LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds, Councilmember Jose Huizar, and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument General Manager Chris Espinosa
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Councilmember Jose Huizar riding in the newly opened Los Angeles Streets protected bike lane

For more details on the facility’s great features, see SBLA’s earlier preview articles from this week, and from when construction started.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Councilmember Huizar, city staff, and safe streets advocates cut the ceremonial ribbon on Spring Street's upgraded bike lane. All photos: Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.

Huizar Cuts Ribbon On Spring Street’s New Protected Bike Lane

By Joe Linton |
On Thursday, L.A. City Councilmember José Huizar hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate Downtown L.A.’s newly protected bike lane. As SBLA’s earlier photo piece showed, the existing southbound buffered bike lane on Spring has been widened, protected, and moved to the left side of the street. Huizar was joined by LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds, […]

Construction Getting Underway For Los Angeles Street Protected Bike Lanes

By Joe Linton |
Yesterday, a construction notice appeared on the official L.A. City Transportation Department (LADOT) Twitter account. It announced a “resurfacing and bike lane enhancement project” to include “protected bike lanes” on downtown L.A.’s Los Angeles Street, extending from First Street to Alameda Street. Construction is set to begin this weekend, and conclude by May 15. During the […]

Mayor Garcetti Nominates New LADOT Head: Seleta Reynolds

By Joe Linton |
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has nominated Seleta Reynolds to be the new general manager for the city’s Transportation Department (LADOT.) From preliminary research on Reynolds’s background, this looks like great news. Reynolds currently works for San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) where her focus had been livable streets, with a focus on building more equitable streets. Reynolds’ […]