While construction of the Expo Bike Path still years away, the LADOT is doing its best to complete its portion of the bikeway that will connect westsiders to the Expo Line.

This week SBLA Steering Committee member Jon Weiss noticed that the bike lanes adjacent to the future Palms Station of the Expo Line were painted. Currently, LADOT has painted a minuscule 2 block (one-tenth of a mile) of the bike lane between Clarington and Palms on National Boulevard, but there is more to come. When completed to Motor, the lanes will be just under a half-mile long.

The Expo Construction Authority is tasked with building a separated bicycle path adjacent to much of Expo Phase II, but portions of the route will have bike lanes instead of bike path because of the existing geography and Expo’s right of way. A firm timeline has not been set on when the bike path will be built, but it certainly won’t be completed in time for the opening of the rail portion of Expo Phase II.

The bike path will mostly run next to the Expo tracks between Culver City and where Expo ends in Santa Monica. LADOT is responsible for painting bike lanes in the areas of West L.A. and Cheviot Hills where the bike path cannot be constructed.

It may be just one-tenth of a mile of bike lanes, but this is the first portion of the Expo Phase II Bikeway to be completed. Hopefully it’s the first step in a new bike network to connect people on the Westside to all points east.