Every year, I, Streetsblog Editor Joe Linton, make some - generally overly optimistic - predictions about the year ahead. See 2025 and 2024 editions if you like. Enjoy the speculation, and don't expect anyone to predict the future with a high degree of certainty.
Metro D Line Opening
Metro D Line Subway extension will open by mid-March.
After more than a decade of construction Metro is on track (pun intended) to open a new extension of the D Line (former Purple Line) subway! It's four new miles of track, three new stations, and a ~20-minute ride from Beverly Hills to Downtown L.A.
This isn't some surface-running light rail extension into the suburbs (worthwhile but maybe not the highest priority). This is 50+ mph underground heavy rail running in basically the densest corridor in all of L.A. county - serving lots of existing residents, jobs, retail, and much more.
And that's not all! Those four new miles are part of an overall nine-mile project that will extend the subway to Westwood. Those nine miles are already under construction, and anticipated to open ahead of the 2028 Olympics/Paralympics.
I predict Metro will open its first new D Line segment in March 2026. It will be a game-changer, bringing mid-city closer to downtown L.A., improving the quality of life for millions of Angelenos.
LAX People Mover Opening
I predict that LAX will open its People Mover by early November.
Yes, the LAX People Mover should have opened in 2023 or 2024... and L.A. should take extraordinary measures to get it open before hosting World Cup soccer matches (June 13 to July 7, 2026).
With LAX leadership saying late 2026, I am predicting an early November opening, just in time to serve holiday travelers.
OC Streetcar Opening
The OC Streetcar will open by June 2026.
Construction is wrapping up. New train cars are being tested. The four-mile OC Streetcar light rail line is nearly set to open.
The project has had some delays; OCTA now anticipates a Spring 2026 opening. I don't have any inside knowledge, but I will predict that the OC Streetcar will open on (or around) Memorial Day weekend - Friday May 22, 2026.
Speed Cameras Online in So. Cal.
By November 2026, Glendale and Long Beach will install and activate speed cameras.
Last Month, both Long Beach and Glendale gave the go-ahead for installing and operating automated speed camera systems. I predict those two cities will activate cameras by October 2026. State law requires a minimum 60-day warning period before issuing citations, so I predict actual citations starting by January 1, 2027.
L.A. City Bikeway Mileage Will Decline
For fiscal year 2025-2026, L.A. City will install/improve fewer bikeway miles than the prior year.
Each fiscal year, I report on how many miles of bikeways L.A. City installs or improves. See my recent FY2024-25 post.
Voters approved Measure HLA in 2024, supporting adding more bikeways (and accessibility, walk and transit facilities) to L.A. Streets.
In early 2024 the city essentially put resurfacing on hold for streets where bike/bus/walk improvements were planned. In July 2025 the city went one step further, essentially putting all street resurfacing on hold, in favor of costly inefficient "large asphalt repair."
Resurfacing was (and still is) expected to be the main trigger for HLA walk/bus/bike improvements. Even prior to HLA, quite a few bikeway improvements coincided with resurfacing.
Now, with the city no longer resurfacing streets (with "large asphalt repair" repaving shorter, smaller, and narrower patches - compared to past full resurfacing), the city has dramatically reduced its output of new bikeways. (The same is true for new bus lanes and crosswalk upgrades.)
Last year bikeway mileage - totalling nearly 36 new/improved miles - increased due to the city completing about 17 miles of bike paths where construction started prior to HLA. But those projects in the pipeline are done. During the last six months (the "large asphalt repair" era), as far as I can tell, L.A. City nearly stopped adding/improving bikeways.
New bikeways haven't entirely zero-ed out. Usually there are around a dozen or more new or improved bikeways in a six month period. Maybe I missed a something, but since July 1, I think there are just two new L.A. City bike lane projects completed; both are very short. These are the exceptions that prove the rule:
- LADOT added about 600 feet of new southbound protected bike lane on Laurel Canyon Boulevard.
- Culver City added about 200 feet of new protected bike lanes in L.A. where their Robertson Boulevard project crossed the city boundary.
For what it's worth, there have also been a few miles of worthwhile hardening of existing plastic-protected bike lanes - on 4th Street and Hollywood Boulevard, and maybe elsewhere. These are somewhat similar to hardening I reported on earlier - on Adams Boulevard and Spring Street. These are good upgrades that the city should keep doing, but they don't increase bikeway mileage; they improve existing bike lanes that were already pretty good places to ride. (It's my failing, but I didn't even track this sort of improvement in the past - mainly because it is not adding any new mileage.)
My prediction for fiscal year 2025-26: L.A. City will install/improve fewer than 18 miles of bikeways - less than half of the 2024-25 total.
