Eyes On The Street: Newly Protected Bike Lanes on Venice Boulevard

The L.A. City Transportation Department (LADOT) recently took advantage of resurfacing to upgrade 0.7 miles of existing Venice Boulevard bike lanes. In Mid-City, just north of Culver City, from La Cienega Boulevard to National Boulevard, LADOT upgraded formerly unprotected lanes to make them parking-protected.

The parking-protection was added without removing any travel lanes; on-street parking appears to have been reduced slightly, but remains plentiful in this stretch.

The upgrades stop a block short of a protected connection to Culver City Metro E Line Station and the Expo Line bike path. LADOT is planning to make that connection soon – extending the protection several miles further west to Lincoln Boulevard, and adding new bus-only lanes on Venice Boulevard – as part of a project expected to be implemented this winter.

In addition to the planned extension westward, to the east there are several “low hanging fruit” Venice Boulevard locations where existing unprotected lanes could be easily upgraded with no lane removal and no (or minimal) parking removal. These include from the 10 Freeway to around Genesee Avenue, from Cochran Avenue to La Brea Avenue, and eastbound from La Brea to Crenshaw Boulevard.