Getty ImagesFrom busy freeways to classic car street racing, Los Angeles has long been considered the capital of American car culture. Could this change in time for the Olympics?
With sunny skies almost year-round, some say LA is the perfect place to cycle.
“It’s a great community for runners and bicyclists and getting outside, yet in general we’re tied to our cars, we’re hooked on the need for speed,” said the executive director of Streets Are For Everyone (Safe). said Damian Cute. .
But until recently, it was cars — and not pedestrians or cyclists — that ruled the streets.
Spread over 460 square miles (1,200 square kilometers), Los Angeles is known for its never-ending sprawl and traffic jams.
While cities like New York and Boston have embraced mass transit, it’s never quite caught on in L.A. — only about 7% of Angelenos take transit to work. According to neighborhood data for social change.
And while the LA weather would be the envy of any Amsterdam cyclist, only 1% bikes to work.
But with millions of fans expected to attend the city for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games, something has to be done to make getting around the city easier.
Los Angeles adopted the “Twenty-Eight by ’28” transportation plan in 2017 to expand mass transit options ahead of the Summer Olympics. Since then, miles and miles of new bike lanes have been popping up.
“It’s long overdue,” Mr Cavett said.
A cyclist who lost his leg after being hit by a car while riding his bike in Griffith Park in 2013, Cavette believes more and more as roads become safer and bike lanes become more connected to each other. People will travel using their own bikes or metro city bikes on hire. Others
In 2024, LA voters overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure that would have required the city to create more bike lanes and more walkable, livable spaces in Los Angeles.
But will car-loving Angelenos embrace bike culture? Some are actively resisting the changes, grumbling that bike lanes only make traffic worse for cars in the City of Stars.
“What do you mean we voted for him? Not here! Not me!” said Darren Dribing, president and CEO of Forest Lawn Cemetery, who is fighting against a bike lane near the cemetery because he thinks it will increase traffic during commutes and funerals.
“Everywhere I’ve looked. [it] implemented, they failed,” he said.
Some fail.
While protected bike lanes have transformed Olympic host cities like Paris and London, politicians are currently trying to eliminate bike lanes in Toronto that have been a part of city streets for nearly a decade (cyclists on them). being sued by them to stop the project).
In Los Angeles County, the city of Glendale recently voted to remove some bike lanes after complaints about increased traffic.
And new protected bike lanes are creating frustration along Hollywood Boulevard, where automobile traffic is now limited to one lane in each direction for several miles. But it is also causing others to occasionally commute by bike instead of driving.
Cyclist Mimi Holt used to ride her bike in Seattle, then stopped riding for nearly 20 years out of fear of speeding drivers on LA’s busy streets.
“People drive so fast in L.A., it’s scary,” she said.
When her doctor told her she was pre-diabetic, she decided to risk the streets to get more exercise, and says that since getting back on two wheels, she feels much younger.
She said she can’t wait for the city’s “islands of bike lanes” to be interconnected.
“If there was only one connecting route, I’d be on it all the time,” said Mrs. Holt, adding that she would get rid of her car if cycling safely everywhere in Los Angeles were an option. .
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city and the LA 2028 Olympic Committee are making great progress toward a “transit-first” Olympics, as she calls it, after initially championing the “car-free” Games. caused controversy.
But with more than 100 miles (160 km) of bike lanes planned, advocates fear the process is taking too long.
So far, only five of the “twenty-eight by 28” projects have been completed and 23 are in the works — and not all of them are expected to be completed in time for the Games.
Los Angeles has already received $900 million ($717 million) from the Biden administration to help with most rail projects. But realizing the city’s transit dreams by 2028 will take more time.
Mayor Bass and other city leaders wrote a letter to the Trump transition team calling it “the largest and most spectacular event ever held in American history.” sporting event” requested $3.2 billion in federal funding.
President Trump was a supporter of LA’s Olympic bid during his first presidency, telling officials not to forget to invite him.
Mayor Bass said she did not yet have a response to the letter, but said she hoped President-elect Trump would join other California political leaders, such as Gov. Gavin Newsom and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. Will support them despite constant stress.
Getty ImagesSome people, like Ms. Holt, like the idea of ditching their cars for a variety of reasons.
“I can barely afford my car. Insurance is really expensive, gas is really expensive and it’s not good for the environment,” Miss Holt said at a meeting to look at proposed bike routes across Los Angeles.
But while many Angelenos rely on mass transit to get to work and school, many others who live here have never taken a bus or traveled the underground subway, which has been widely reported in the media. Often portrayed as crime-ridden and dystopian.
And many locals think the idea of a car-free Games is ludicrous.
“It’s a fantastic dream,” said Shivun Ozinga, a Burbank resident opposed to the additional bike lanes near his neighborhood. He said the city is vast, sprawling and relies on cars to get around.
“I can’t imagine this happening in such a short amount of time given the car culture we have here.”
But Mayor Bass can envision a transportation revolution and said she believes transit changes in Los Angeles will last beyond the Olympic Games and the 2026 World Cup.
“As a biker, I certainly hope so,” she said.