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Bicycling

Eyes on the Street: New Taylor Yard Walk/Bike Bridge

By Joe Linton

12:09 PM PDT on March 22, 2022

LongBeachize_Ad_Concepts — This article supported by Los Angeles Bicycle Attorney as part of a general sponsorship package. All opinions in the article are that of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of LABA. Click on the ad for more information.

Last Monday's invitation-only opening didn't turn out to be a great opportunity for Streetsblog to get to know L.A.'s newly-open Taylor Yard bike/walk bridge over the Los Angeles River. So SBLA went back to the scene earlier today, and took lots more photos of the great new bridge. See last week's article for more on the history of the project, and the communities it connects.

Location of new Elysian Valley L.A. River bridge. Base via Google Maps

New Taylor Yard bike/walk bridge over the L.A. River in Elysian Valley

approach — On the southwest (Elysian Valley) side ramp there are sculptural planters with drought-resistant landscaping

In the middle of the bridge are two viewing platforms - called belvederes

The view downstream from a belvedere. The bridge is located in the eight-mile-long, relatively natural Glendale Narrows stretch of the river. When the river was reinforced to minimize flooding, this area got sloped concrete walls. Springs pushing water up from underground prevented fully encasing the river in concrete, so the earthen bottom area supports an ecosystem harboring tall trees and various birds and fish.

xxx — Cyclists of all ages now enjoy the Taylor Yard bridge

xxx — The ~400-foot orange open frame box of the bridge is level/flat, while the path inside the box slopes upward crossing the river south to north (left to right in the above picture.) The slope was apparently needed to allow vehicles to cross below the bridge on the access road on the right.

xxx — On the north (Taylor Yard / Cypress Park) side of the bridge, the path ramps back down to ground level, crossing an unused spur rail track before meeting up with an access road

The north side features this metal artifact (sculpture?) that may have been used in the making of the bridge.

xxx — The end of the new bikeway. The bridge combined with the access ramp totals about 700 new feet of bike/walk path.

xxx — There is an existing concrete path - marked "bike path" - that runs along the east side of the access road extending to San Fernando Road.

xxx — The city has also added sharrows to the access road that leads to the bridge (and to the Metrolink maintenance yard just downstream)

xxx — The bridge connects people with the existing seven-and-a-half-mile L.A. River bike/walk path

xxxx — Another reflection photo of the new Taylor Yard bridge

Joe Linton

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