New Protected Bike Lanes On Monterey Road In Northeast L.A.

Recently reconfigured bike lanes on Monterey Road in Northeast L.A. Photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.
Recently reconfigured bike lanes on Monterey Road in Northeast L.A. Photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.

They are a month or two old now, but today Streetsblog L.A. got a chance to visit the recently reconfigured bike lanes on Monterey Road in the Northeast L.A. communities of El Sereno, Hermon, Rose Hill and Monterey Hills. The bike lanes extend 1.8 miles from the intersection with Cassatt Street/Lomitas Drive (near Huntington Drive) and the city border with South Pasadena. Bike lanes were added to Monterey Road in 2013; the street striping was recently reconfigured after resurfacing. A half dozen blocks (south of Avenue 60) received a road diet and upgraded basic bike lanes to buffered ones.

Protected bike lanes through the Monterey Road Pass.
Protected bike lanes through the Monterey Road Pass.

The reconfiguration also included about a quarter-mile of protected bike lanes through the 1930 Monterey Road Pass, sometimes called the “upside down bridge.” The pass road is from the same era as L.A.’s historic river bridges, and exhibits similar elegant concrete details and handsome lighting standards. This appears to be the fifth protected bike lane project in the city of L.A., after the Second Street Tunnel, Reseda Boulevard, Los Angeles Street and Van Nuys Boulevard.

The area is fairly hilly, with relatively few bicyclists or pedestrians. The lanes connect with the existing steep bike lanes on Via Marisol.

New buffered bike lane on Avenue 60
New buffered bike lane on Avenue 60

The Monterey Road lanes also connect to a 0.2-mile stretch of new buffered bike lanes on Avenue 60 that extend from Monterey Road to Benner Street. The Avenue 60 lanes connect to the Arroyo Seco Bike Path via a ramp through Arroyo Seco/Hermon Park.

  • Dan Jordinelli

    Since there are no to few bicyclists who ever use these ‘protected bike lanes’, why has the city inconvenienced the auto drivers who far outnumber the bikers? This is a huge waste of our tax dollars.

  • Alexander DeLarge

    Slows down traffic for people who live in the neighborhood, so they don’t have to deal with unsafe streets for kids and older adults. Multiple 4-lane-wide speed bumps would delay your commute much more.

  • Jason

    Yes, go figure that when protected bike lanes are random strips instead of a connected network, people still don’t ride bikes for fear of getting killed by cars while biking. Clearly the answer is to just give up, instead of building more protected bike lanes.

  • LAguttersnipe

    BOO HOO. You don’t care bout tax $$ u an just angry person.

  • claw789

    Maybe there were few cyclists BECAUSE there were no protected lanes 🤔

  • Joe Commuter

    True, not a lot of people use them but we would never make investments in anything if we seek instant gratification. We have to think long-term.

  • Expert Blockotect

    I would like to see some protected bike lane upgrades on N Mission Rd with resurfacing, just south of the streets pointed out in the article. Those lanes have got to be some of the worst in the city.

  • Vooch

    you don’t see the cyclists because they are so efficient. 20 cyclists zoom by and you hardly notice it.

    Hulking death machines are very visible becuase they are so big and require so much roadspace to move a minscule number of people. 20 hulking death machines ? Its congestion and chaos.

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