On Thursday, L.A. City Councilmember José Huizar hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate Downtown L.A.’s newly protected bike lane. As SBLA’s earlier photo piece showed, the existing southbound buffered bike lane on Spring has been widened, protected, and moved to the left side of the street.

Huizar was joined by LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds, Bureau of Street Services Director Adel Hagekhalil, and L.A. County Bicycle Coalition Deputy Executive Director of Advocacy Cesar Hernandez.

Huizar exclaimed that Spring Street’s upgrades are “good for everyone” and are about “prioritizing people” and not just cars. Reynolds expressed that the drivers were still getting used to the arrangement, as there are only a few parking-protected bike lanes in the city. She emphasized the safety benefits of the protected bikeway.

Future phases of the project are anticipated to include:

• Completing a similar treatment on Spring’s paired one-way couplet partner Main Street
• Upgrading some paint work to concrete separators
• Possible upgrade to protected 2-way bike traffic – per Seleta Reynolds