Finish the Path!
The LA River Path could be the spine of a countywide safe mobility network from the Valley to Long Beach. When complete, it will provide residents and visitors with 51 miles of car-free access to thousands of destinations, linking the region through recreation, ecology, and everyday movement.
But it’s missing the most important section—an 8.5 mile segment right in the center of Los Angeles. Voters approved enough funding to finish the path in 2016, but the City of Los Angeles refuses to approve it. Instead, people are forced to risk their lives on dangerous streets, and long-neglected communities continue to be deprived of infrastructure investment.
Tell Mayor Bass to stop delaying and approve the path.
What’s the delay?
Measure M, approved by voters in 2016, included $365 million for this section of the river path.
Alignments suspended above the channel will cost at least $1.1 billion, according to LA Metro. There is no effort to find the additional funding. It could take decades.
A path aligned in the channel can be built with existing funding and with money left over for connections and other neighborhood safety improvements.
The Festival Trail proposes to build the path quickly by creating a new agency called a joint powers authority. The JPA would also operate and maintain the path.
If we begin immediately, we can build the path by the summer of 2028 in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The next step is for the City of Los Angeles to agree to the JPA and pay the operations and maintainance costs of about $1.5 million per year. For the price of less than $2 million per year in operating costs, the City of Los Angeles would receive $400 million (in current dollars) in capital funding to build the path and other safety improvements.
Background
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How often will the path be unusable, due to rain?
Hydrological studies by the firm Geosyntec estimated that a path built six inches above the floor of the channel will be ridable 350 days of the year.
Why create a whole new government agency?
Creating an independent agency with authority for a singular piece of public infrastructure is a common strategy to expedite construction and ensure attention to the ongoing public benefit of the project.
Why is it so expensive to build an above-channel path?
The above-channel path is so expensive because adjacent land uses come right up against the edge of the channel and can’t be moved (train tracks, mostly). The path is practically an 8-mile long bridge. The in-channel path will probably cost less than $400 million—with extra funding required to build connections, such as an extension of the Arroyo Seco path.
What about flash floods? Isn't it dangerous to be in the channel?
Stream gauges, precipitation gauges, and the weather forecast will trigger automatic closures of this portion of the path. Studies indicate we have four hours to clear the channel before floodwaters rise. With five points of access along this 8.5-mile stretch, that's plenty of time, even if an emergency crew has to go into the channel to remove someone who is in injured.
Will this reduce the capacity of the channel to carry water?
No. Hydrological studies show the path will not change water flow.
TAKE ACTION
Sign up for the LA River Path campaign mailing list.
Contribute your perspective by creating a submission for the “Complete The Path” Short-Form Video Contest.
Help spread the word by posting about the LA River Path project on social media.