Eyes on the Street: New San Vicente Protected Bike Lanes Nearly Done

New protected bike lanes on San Vicente Boulevard. Photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog
New protected bike lanes on San Vicente Boulevard. Photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog
LongBeachize_Ad_Concepts
This article supported by Los Angeles Bicycle Attorney as part of a general sponsorship package. All opinions in the article are that of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of LABA. Click on the ad for more information.

The city of L.A. Transportation Department (LADOT) is in the field today installing parking-protected bike lanes on San Vicente Boulevard in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood just east of Little Ethiopia.

San Vicente is an overly wide street, a former streetcar right-of-way. It is a predominantly residential street with, until now, up to ten lanes (seven travel lanes and three parking lanes), all given over to cars. The bike lane improvements remove one car travel lane in each direction: a road diet.

The lanes have been in the works since 2020, when community groups began urging the city to add the upgrades (already approved in the 2015 Mobility Plan) when the city resurfaced the street. In early 2021, LADOT hosted outreach meetings, where they received favorable input. At that time, the project extended 1.2 miles from Olympic Boulevard to La Brea Avenue. In that area, there were already three blocks of existing bike lanes between Redondo Boulevard and La Brea, so the project would upgrade those lanes, and add nearly a mile of new bike lanes – from Redondo to Olympic. (It appears that the northwest portion of the project may have been shortened from what LADOT had announced, though this may become clearer as project installation finishes.)

The improvements are not quite completed, but the new bike lanes are already open between Curson Avenue and Redondo Boulevard.

New parking-protected bike lanes on San Vicente Boulevard
New parking-protected bike lanes on San Vicente Boulevard
LADOT crew out this morning adding thermoplastic bike symbols to the new lanes
LADOT crew out this morning adding thermoplastic bike symbols to the new lanes
Much of the thermoplastic striping is done, but a few preliminary markings are still visible
Much of the thermoplastic striping is done, but a few preliminary markings still need to be filled in
Portions of San Vicente are still being repaved, with more protected bike lane coming soon
Portions of San Vicente are still being repaved (the area pictured is just east of Redondo), with more protected bike lane coming soon

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

A Look At L.A.’s “Second Year” Bike Lane Implementation List

|
Last week, the Los Angeles City Departments of City Planning (DCP) and Transportation (LADOT) hosted a webinar for the start of what they’re calling “2010 Bicycle Plan Second Year Implementation.” The Webinar presentation materials are posted online here. SBLA covered some news from the webinar last friday. Today’s article focuses on the “Second Year” projects and […]

Some Los Angeles Road Diet Projects Can Add More On-Street Parking

|
Most of the city of Los Angeles’ bike lane mileage has been implemented without removing any car lanes or any parking spaces. The city Transportation Department (LADOT) merely narrows existing overly-wide lanes, and adds bike lanes. In recent years, the city of Los Angeles has also done a number of bike lane projects called “road diets.” […]