Plans to extend the Ballona Creek bike path date to the 1970s, but have been left on hold for 50 years. Attempts by the City of Los Angeles to secure funding for the project fell through twice in the early 2000s. But now, there is finally movement on the effort to extend the Ballona Creek bike path into Mid-City.
Earlier this year the proposed bike path extension was awarded $6.4 million in funding from the California Transportation Commission. Plans call for adding two additional miles of trail along the Ballona Creek channel from its current end point next to Syd Kronenthal Park, toward the intersection of Cochran Avenue and Venice Boulevard.
The existing bike path runs almost seven miles, and terminates in Marina del Rey.
Both the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and the City of Culver City have committed to the project, which now can proceed with environmental and design work.
SWA Group, the largest landscape architecture firm in the country, is designing the additional miles. This will require the construction of new stretches of underpass to cross the I-10 Freeway corridor. Alternative plans call for the path to be built at-grade in existing right-of-way next to the creek, or adjacent to parallel streets.
The state is planning $6.4 million in funding from the California Transportation Commission, which will allow for those last few miles – first envisioned 50 years ago – to be put in place. Once completed, the bike path will run from mid-city to Marina del Rey.
