Via the LADOT Bike Blog comes a first look at the Spring Street Buffered Bike Lanes planned for Downtown Los Angeles. Having spent some time this weekend on the “bike paths” on 3rd and Broadway in Downtown Long Beach this weekend, I can’t tell you what a difference a buffer makes.

Even though these lanes aren’t quite the same as the ones in Long Beach, there’s a lot of excitement for the lanes, which the city has promised will be open for business by the end of the year. The excitement has led to a lot of speculation on when in December the lanes are going to open, although I’m starting to hear buzz that they might be open even sooner than that.