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 ride a 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, with only about 7% of Angelenos taking public transit to work. according to Neighborhood Data for Social Change, external.
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.
In 2017, Los Angeles adopted the “Twenty-Eight to 28” transportation plan to expand public transportation options ahead of the Summer Olympics. Since then, there have been miles and miles of new bike lanes.
“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.
