Eyes on the Street: Irvine’s New Curb-Protected Bike Lanes

In November 2024, the city of Irvine celebrated the opening of bike lane improvements on Cadence in the city’s Great Park neighborhood.

The project added curb protection to existing unprotected bike lanes. The Cadence facility is similar to other Southern California curb-protected bikeways, including those in Santa Ana, Long Beach, Santa Monica, and Pomona.

Irvine’s new protected bike lanes extend 1.25 miles on Cadence (yes, the street is just called “Cadence”) from Radial to Chinon. It connects residential neighborhoods to Cadence Park Elementary/Middle School, as well as to nearby parks and trails.

The facility runs along the north side of the planned 1,300-acre Orange County Great Park; it’s located less than a mile north of the already open 500+ acre portion of the park. The park and surrounding residential neighborhoods are being developed on the site of the nearly 5,000-acre decommissioned El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Though largely suburban, Irvine (66 square miles, population 315,000) has an extensive bikeway network that earned the city recognition as a Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. Irvine’s bikeway network totals just over 400 miles, generally in support of recreational cycling. The city has more than 113 miles of off-street bike paths, primarily connecting residential neighborhoods to parks. Nearly all major roadways have unprotected bike lanes (many alongside four to six-plus lanes of cars) utilized by commuters and road bicyclists.