Rails-to-trails advocacy groups quickly began agitating for a bike route along the Exposition corridor, with one 1992Los Angeles Times article prophetically headlined: “A Better Path: There Are 12.2 Miles of Abandoned Rail Beds That Could Be Turned Into a Trail for Bikers, Joggers and Walkers From USC to Santa Monica, but There Is Resistance.”[4]
Twenty years later, in 2012, the first section of the Expo Bike Path opened to the public.[5]
The Expo Bike Path connects to theBallona Creek Bike Path (andPark to Playa Trail) at National Boulevard in Culver City. The connection between the two paths is at the Bike Path Bridge overBallona Creek; the bridge originally carried the southbound lanes of National until the construction of the E Line overpass and a new four-lane National Boulevard bridge.[6] Between the new and old road bridges, a historicPacific Electric rail bridge remains intact but fenced off and unused.
Route: This section is largely aClass III bike route (bicycles share a main road with a car traffic), but there is short separated bike path segment betweenLa Cienega/Jefferson station and the western terminus. There is adogleg turn on Harcourt Avenue between the 3.4-mile-long (5.5 km) stretch on Jefferson Boulevard. and the 1.2-mile-long (1.9 km) section on La Cienega Boulevard.[5] There is an eastbound crossing of the train tracks at South Gramercy Place.[3] Just before the western end of the Phase I/eastern segment of the Expo Bike Path, there is access to theBallona Creek Bike Path which continues six miles west to the ocean, connecting to theMarvin Braude Bike Trail.[5]
Notes: Separated from traffic except at crossings[10][9] “There are good bikeway connections in the area, but people unfamiliar with the vicinity would be well served by [signage] to the beach, theMichigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway (MANGo),Santa Monica College, and other destinations.”[11]
The origin point of the western segment includes theWestwood Neighborhood Greenway, alinear park completed 2020, that “daylights” the Brown Canyon Creek that had been funneled underground since 1958.[16] The Greenway was built on a railroad right-of-way that was not otherwise occupied by the train tracks or bike route.[17]
There is a bicycle repair shop and a secured bike garage located within the Culver City station at about the halfway point along the route.[18]
^abcHawthorne, Christopher (May 21, 2017). "Toward wholeness; The Expo Line uses space once occupied by streetcars. Its run from downtown to the ocean helps put L.A. back on track".Los Angeles Times. pp. E1.
^abCart, Julie (October 7, 1992). "A Better Path There Are 12.2 Miles of Abandoned Rail Beds That Could Be Turned Into a Trail for Bikers, Joggers and Walkers From USC to Santa Monica, but There Is Resistance".Los Angeles Times. pp. A1.
La Cienega/Jefferson
