Can bike lanes change a car-ridden Los Angeles?

From busy freeways to classic street racing, Los Angeles has long been considered the capital of American car culture. Could that change before the Olympics?

With sunny skies almost year-round, some say Los Angeles is the perfect place to bike.

“It’s a perfect community for running, biking and being outdoors, but we’re typically tied to our vehicles, we’re tied to the need to be fast,” said Damian Kevitt, executive director of Streets Are For Everyone (Safe). .

But until recently, cars drove the roads, not pedestrians or cyclists.

Covering an area of ​​more than 460 square miles (1,200 square kilometers), Los Angeles is known for its endless sprawl and traffic jams.

While cities like New York and Boston have embraced public transit, Los Angeles hasn’t caught on—only about 7% of Angelenos take public transit to work. according to Neighborhood Data for Social Change.

And while the weather in Los Angeles would be the envy of any cyclist from Amsterdam, only about 1% commute by bike.

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

Los Angeles adopted the “Twenty-Eight to 28” transportation plan in 2017 to expand public transportation options ahead of the Summer Olympics. Since then, miles and miles of new bike lanes have been popping up.

“It’s long overdue,” Mr Kevitt said.

A cyclist who lost his leg in 2013 after being hit by a car while cycling in Griffith Park, Kevitt believes more people will ride their own bikes or Metro bikes to work if the streets become safer , and bike lanes will be more connected to each other.

In 2024, Los Angeles voters overwhelmingly approved a measure to build more bike lanes and more livable places in Los Angeles.

But will car-loving Angelenos embrace bike culture? Some are actively fighting the changes, complaining that the bike lanes will only worsen car traffic in the city of stars.

“What do you mean, we voted for it? Not here! Not me!” said Darrin Drabing, president and CEO of Forest Lawn Cemetery, which is fighting against bike lanes near the cemetery because he believes it will increase traffic during his trips and funerals.

“Everywhere I’ve seen (it) implemented, they’ve failed,” he said. “All it does is increase congestion and frustrate people.”

Some do fail.

While protected bike lanes have transformed Olympic host cities like Paris and London, politicians are now trying to rip Toronto’s bike lanes, which have been part of city streets for nearly a decade (cyclists sued them to stop the plan ) .

In Los Angeles County, the city of Glendale recently voted to remove some bike lanes after complaints about increased traffic.

And the new protected bike lanes create frustration along Hollywood Boulevard, where traffic is now limited to one lane in each direction for several miles. But it also forces others to cycle instead of drive from time to time.

Cyclist Mimi Holt used to ride her bike in Seattle, then quit riding for nearly 20 years because of her fear of speeders on the busy streets of Los Angeles.

“People drive so fast in Los Angeles, it’s so scary,” she said.

When her doctor told her she had pre-diabetes, she decided to venture out on the roads to get more exercise and says she feels much younger since getting back on two wheels.

She said she can’t wait for the city’s “islands of bike lanes” to be connected to each other.

“If only there was a connecting path, I’d be on it all the time,” Ms. Holt said, adding that she would get rid of her car if it were safe to bike everywhere in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Committee have made great progress toward what she calls a “transit-first” Olympics, after she initially sparked controversy by advocating for the Games. without cars.”

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

So far, only five of the Twenty-Eight to 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 help with mainly rail projects. But more will be needed to make urban transport dreams come true by 2028.

Mayor Bass and other city leaders wrote a letter to Trump’s transition team asking for $3.2 billion in federal funding for “the largest and most spectacular sporting event in American history.”

President Trump supported Los Angeles’ bid for the Olympics during his first presidency, telling officials not to forget to invite him.

Mayor Bass said she has yet to receive a response to the letter, but she hopes President-elect Trump will be supportive despite his frequent tensions with other California political leaders such as Gov. Gavin Newsom and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.

Some people, like Ms. Holt, like to ditch their cars for a variety of reasons.

“I can barely afford my car. Insurance is very expensive, gas is very expensive and it’s not good for the environment,” Ms. Holt said at a meeting looking at proposed bike lanes across Los Angeles.

But while many Angelenos use public transportation to get to work and school, many others who live here have never taken a bus or ventured underground to the subway, which is often portrayed in the media as teeming with crime and dystopia.

And many locals find the idea of ​​car-free games absurd.

“It’s a wonderful dream,” said Siobhan Ozinga, a Burbank resident who opposes additional bike lanes near her neighborhood. She said the city is too big, sprawling and car-dependent to change.

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

But Mayor Bass can envision a transportation revolution, and said she believes transit changes in Los Angeles will continue long after the 2026 Olympics and World Cup.

“As a cyclist, I certainly hope so,” she said.