Eyes on the Street: Caltrans Sidewalk Work on Alvarado
Work is underway on Caltrans’ five-mile $70 million State Route 2 Multimodal Project.
The project includes three street segments in the city of Los Angeles:
- Alvarado Street/Glendale Boulevard between the 101 Freeway and the 2 Freeway terminus – in Echo Park
- Santa Monica Boulevard between La Brea Avenue and the 101 Freeway – in Hollywood
- Santa Monica Boulevard between Centinela Avenue and the 405 Freeway – in West Los Angeles
Many readers may know that Caltrans (the state Transportation Department) typically focuses on freeways: expanding, extending, maintaining freeways. Caltrans also has responsibility for a handful of surface streets that it owns. These are mainly streets that Caltrans had, in the past, planned to convert into freeways. Caltrans maintains and improves these streets.
The current project will add 1.4 miles (2.8 lane-miles) of new bus lanes on the West L.A. portion of Santa Monica Boulevard. (Alvarado already has bus lanes.)
All five miles are getting sidewalk repairs/upgrades, new/repaired curb ramps, traffic signal pole upgrades, resurfacing, transit stop improvements, bike racks, and “bicycle and pedestrian signage.” Per Caltrans’ project website, the project includes 241 new/improved curb ramps and 37 improved bus stops.
As of today, work is underway on Alvarado between Sunset Boulevard and the 101. So far the output is mostly sidewalks – repairs, ramps – mainly at intersections.
Construction got under way in the past month or two, and is anticipated to be completed in fall 2028.
