The city of South El Monte has officially opened the south end of the Merced Avenue Greenway. This new portion of the Greenway is 0.65 miles long, with a further extension north up to Fern Avenue expected to open in 2027. Then, the greenway will run 1.1 miles.
The project is one of several multimodal improvements in the area, including the Merced Ave Linear Park, Rosemead Boulevard Complete Streets (both opened in 2024), and South El Monte’s planned Interjurisdictional Bike Lanes.
The official grand opening ribbon-cutting festivities took place on March 1.
People on foot or bike are separated from the road by rainwater-harvesting bioswales. Crosswalks are high visibility, with green striping in conflict areas. Curbs along the path have cut-outs to allow water to flow into the landscape (and to prevent damage from skateboards).
The protected walkway/bikeway is at sidewalk level, creating a wide path for users. While sidewalk-level bikeways are not unusual in bike-friendly places (for example the Netherlands) the design is a first for the San Gabriel Valley. Merced is the longest stretch of sidewalk-level protected bikeway in L.A. County (it appears to be the third such bikeway in the county - after short sidewalk-level portions of Santa Monica's 17th Street and Pomona's Valley Boulevard - though neither of those facilities includes Merced's rain features.)
The project was designed by the mobility non-profit ActiveSGV and Alta Planning+Design.
There is also a native plant garden on the west side of the street with helpful information plaques on drought tolerant landscaping at home. Overall, 30,000 square feet of asphalt was replaced with planters, addressing urban heat issues.
The Council for Watershed Health was a consultant on the green aspects of the project, and will continue testing the quality of water that infiltrates the storm drains through these planters for the next three years.
This phase of the Merced Avenue Greenway cost $11.9 million. Funding was provided by Prop 68, Prop 1, Los Angeles County Flood Control District, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
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