Streetsblog recently visited the southeast L.A. County city of Artesia, which has been quietly making strides toward becoming a more bike-friendly place.
Artesia is about 1.6 square miles, with about 16,000 residents. It's a very diverse place, with a Little India district thriving alongside multi-ethnic Asian/Latino/Black/white neighborhoods. Artesia is the planned terminus for the future (and soon-to-be-renamed) Metro West Santa Ana Branch rail line. It is located in the Gateway Cities sub-region, much of which is relatively car-centric.
Artesia is not some kind of bike paradise (yet), but the city is already surpassing its surrounding neighbors with new bike lanes, green pavement treatments, a new bike path, and more on the way.
The city adopted the Artesia Active Transportation Plan in early 2022. The plan identifies 17 priority bikeway projects in the city.
About a month ago, Artesia opened new bright green bike lanes on 166th Street between Pioneer and Norwalk Boulevards. The half-mile long resurfacing project spans three cities: Artesia, Norwalk and Cerritos. The project included a road diet, which the city's staff report recommended for improving safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and people in vehicles.
Artesia is responsible the south side of 166th. The city opted to go a bit further than Norwalk by adding bright green pavement. Artesia already had installed green paint on its Norwalk Boulevard bike lanes.
Artesia is also building its Historical District Recreational Trail along the West Santa Ana Branch rail right-of-way. The walk/bike path is open, but the city is still finishing installing landscaping and irrigation.
