Could bike lanes reshape car-crazy Los Angeles?

From highways to street car racing, Los Angeles has long been considered the center of American car culture. Will it change during the Olympics?

With sunny skies almost year-round, some say LA is the perfect place for cycling.

“It’s a great group of runners and cyclists and outdoors, but as much as we love our cars, we’re focused on the importance of running,” said Damian Kevitt, head of Streets Are For Everyone (Safe).

But until recently, it was cars – not pedestrians or cyclists – that ruled the streets.

Spread over 1,200 square kilometers, Los Angeles is known for its endless congestion and traffic.

While cities like New York and Boston have received more commutes, L.A. hasn’t caught on – only about 7% of Angelenos commute to work. according to Neighborhood Data for Social Change.

And while LA’s weather would be the envy of any Amsterdam cyclist, only 1% of bikes work.

But with hundreds of thousands of spectators expected to be in the city for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games, something needs to be done to make getting around the city easier.

Los Angeles adopted the “Twenty-eight by ’28” transit plan in 2017 to increase mass transit routes ahead of the summer Olympics. Since then, miles and miles of new bike trails have been coming.

“This is overdue,” Kevitt said.

A bicyclist who lost his leg in 2013 after being hit by a car while riding his bike in Griffith Park, Kevitt thinks more people will use their bikes or Metro rental bikes when the roads are safe and bike lanes are connected. other.

LA voters in 2024 overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure for the city to build more bike lanes and more scenic, livable spaces in Los Angeles.

But will car-loving Angelenos embrace bike culture? Some are fighting the change, complaining that bike lanes will only add to traffic in the star city.

“What do you mean we voted? Not now! Not me!” said Darin Drabing, president and CEO of Forest Lawn Cemetery, who is fighting bike lanes near the cemetery because he thinks it will add more traffic to the funeral procession.

“Everywhere I see it [it] when they were fulfilled, they failed,” he said.

Some fail.

Although protected bike lanes have revolutionized Olympic host cities like Paris and London, politicians are trying to tear up bike lanes in Toronto that have been part of the city’s roads for nearly a decade (they are being sued by cyclists to stop the plans).

In Los Angeles County, the city of Glendale recently voted to eliminate bike lanes after complaints about traffic congestion.

And the new protected bike lanes are bringing frustration to Hollywood Boulevard, where traffic is limited to one lane in each direction for several miles. But it is also causing some to cycle from time to time instead of driving.

Cyclist Mimi Holt used to ride her bike in Seattle and then stopped riding for about 20 years for fear of running over drivers on LA’s streets.

“In L.A. people drive so fast, it’s dangerous,” he said.

After her doctor diagnosed her with diabetes, she decided to take a risk to exercise, and said that since she started riding two wheels, she feels younger.

He said he can’t wait for the city’s “cycling islands” to be connected to each other.

“If there was a way to connect, I’d be with them all the time,” Holt said, adding that he’d ditch his car for a safe bike ride anywhere in Los Angeles.

The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said that the city and the LA 2028 Olympic committee are making great progress on the “first” Olympic Games, as they call it, after causing controversy by participating in the “car-free” Games.

But with more than 100 miles (160km) of bike lanes planned, advocates worry the project is taking too long.

So far, only five “28 by ’28” projects have been completed and 23 are in progress – and not all of them are expected to be completed in time for the Games.

Los Angeles has already received $900m (£717m) from the Biden administration to support mainly rail projects. But it will take a lot to make the city’s dream come true by 2028.

Mayor Bass and other city leaders have written a letter to Trump’s transition team asking for $3.2bn to fund the government’s “biggest and most exciting race in American history”.

President Trump supported the invitation to the Olympics in LA during his first presidency, telling officials not to forget to invite him.

Mayor Bass said he has yet to respond to the letter, but said he hopes President-elect Trump will support him despite frequent clashes with other California political leaders, such as Governor Gavin Newsom and congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.

Some people, like Ms Holt, like the idea of ​​giving up their cars, for different reasons.

“I can’t afford my own car. Insurance is too expensive, gas is too expensive and it’s not good for the environment,” Ms Holt said at a meeting to review proposed bike lanes in Los Angeles.

But while many Angelenos rely on mass transit to get to work and school, many who live here have never taken the bus or taken the subway, which is often portrayed as criminal and disruptive in the media.

And many locals think the idea of ​​a car-free Games is absurd.

“That’s a good dream,” said Shivon Ozinga, a Burbank resident who opposes bike lanes near his neighborhood. He said the city is too big, crowded and dependent on cars to move.

“I can’t imagine it happening in such a short amount of time given our car culture here.”

But Mayor Bass can consider transit changes and said he believes transit changes in Los Angeles will last long beyond the 2026 Olympics and World Cup.

“As a cyclist, I hope to do that,” he said.