It is very much still a construction site, but there's a lot of progress visible on Santa Monica's new first/last mile connections to the Metro E Line 26th Street/Bergamot Station.
Bergamot Station has typically seen about a thousand daily boardings, which puts it among the bottom three E Line Stations west of downtown Los Angeles. The station is located in a formerly industrial area, where several streets lack sidewalks. Today the station area is home to art galleries and office parks (including at one large site where Nimbys rejected a proposed mixed-use transit village), but little housing within easy walk distance.
The city's first/last mile project planning focused on facilities to support safe biking and walking within about a mile of the Metro Station. The main project components improve bikeability on 26th Street and Stewart Street, and add sidewalks where they were/are missing on Olympic Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue. See the city's project website for a full listing of project components, and construction alerts.
Streetsblog took photos of the area yesterday.
First up, the most completed part of the project: newly curb-protected bike lanes on 26th Street from Broadway to Olympic Boulevard (at the Metro station). Santa Monica added concrete curb protection, similar to the city's award-winning first/last mile 17th Street bikeway.
The city is currently installing sidewalks on the north side of Olympic, including eliminating a dangerous slip lane directly across the street from the Metro station.
Construction is not as far along at the east side of the project - along Stewart Street.
The project will also include new sidewalks, trees, and lighting on Pennsylvania Avenue, where construction does not appear to be underway yet.
See also earlier Streetsblog/Santa Monica Next posts on the city's project plan and construction underway in October 2024.
