Eyes on the Street: Hollywood Boulevard Bike Lanes are Open

The Hollywood bike lanes project, already very much in use, is also already being criticized by commenters at Nextdoor and other social media

By Joe Linton

3:20 PM PDT on July 17, 2024

Hollywood Boulevard’s new parking-protected bike lanes. Photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog

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Construction has not quite wrapped up, but eastbound and westbound parking-protected bike lanes are now open along Hollywood Boulevard. These are the initial part of several interconnected complete streets upgrades for one of L.A. city's most iconic and most transit-rich corridors.

The bike lane striping is in, though city crews are still adding finishing touches: green striping in conflict zones, repainting some parts of existing crosswalks, etc.

The bike lanes are a bit longer than what the city Transportation Department (LADOT) had announced for the first phase. The project limits announced had been 1.9 miles from Gower Street to Lyman Place; the east end was extended past Lyman to the six-points intersection (Virgil Avenue/Hillhurst Avenue/Sunset Boulevard/Sunset Drive), so there are now 2.1 miles of new bike lanes.

Below are photos of Hollywood Boulevard taken yesterday afternoon.

The east end of the Hollywood Boulevard bike lanes is currently at the six-points intersection at Sunset Boulevard, Hillhurst Avenue, and Virgil Avenue

At right turn pockets before intersections (and a couple narrower blocks at the 101 Freeway) protection drops. The conflict areas feature striped green pavement, but remain the least comfortable places when bicycling on Hollywood

Large green-striped merging zone where Hollywood Boulevard turns, just west of Vermont Avenue

Parking-protected bike lanes on Hollywood Boulevard across from Barnsdall Art Park

First bike lanes to serve Hollywood's Thai Town

Though the white striping is nearly all in place, some additional work is still pending. In the foreground, the scraped area will receive green pavement. To the right are circular marks where plastic bollards will be installed.

The current west end of Hollywood Boulevard's bike lanes - at Gower Street

The project, already very much in use, is also already being criticized by commenters at Nextdoor and other social media. Readers who appreciate the safety upgrades might want to counter those comments by offering gratitude to project proponents at LADOT, the city Bureau of Street Services (StreetsLA), and L.A. City Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez and Nithya Raman.