Protected Bike Lanes May Be Coming To Lankershim Blvd In 2017

North Hollywood’s Lankershim Boulevard may be getting more and better bike lanes next year. This past weekend, the mayor of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Great Streets initiative team partnered with City Councilmember Paul Krekorian, the city Departments of Transportation (LADOT) and Planning (DCP), and community groups to host a pop-up event that previewed a possible protected bike lane design.

Saturday’s Lankershim Blvd Community Pop-Up featured a temporary protected bike lane (see video) and pocket-park, and a small street fair with food, music, art and more. Attendees gave input on possible future street configurations.

The designs for the street are expected to be finalized and publicized in early 2017. Improvements would be implemented in mid-2017 when Lankershim Blvd will be resurfaced after LADWP work there has been completed.

The L.A. County Bicycle Coalition hosted a ride that toured historic North Hollywood neighborhoods before ending at the pop-up event.

The city is currently studying Lankershim upgrades from Vanowen Street to Magnolia Boulevard. The northern portion of this already has conventional bike lanes. The cross section varies somewhat, so a final design may vary somewhat incorporating protected bike lanes only where width is most generous.

Protected bike lanes are also on the way for North Hollywood’s Chandler Boulevard. The Chandler protected lanes, already funded via Metro’s Call for Projects, could intersect with possible protected bike lanes on Lankershim to generate Los Angeles’ first fully-protected 4-way intersection. The intersection and bikeways there may take on a very different complexion as extensive Metro surface parking makes way for planned transit-oriented development.