Sunset4All: Transforming Sunset Blvd Into a Safe and Beautiful Active Transportation Corridor

Green space, park access, and trees

Central LA

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Sunset Boulevard is a major east-west corridor in Los Angeles, known for its heavy traffic and iconic mix of entertainment, culture, and commerce. The road is frequently congested due to commuters, tourists, and high activity from businesses and nightlife. Existing bike lanes on the corridor are insufficient to fully protect riders and encourage less experienced riders to feel comfortable utilizing the bike facilities. Sunset is the only potential bike route traveling northwest out of the downtown of the 2nd largest city in the US through a neighborhood where over 50% of trips are less than 3 miles. There have been ~1000 injuries and deaths along the project corridor in the past ten years. Consequently, the city has placed both streets along the Sunset4All route on the Vision Zero High Injury Network. Furthermore, much of the Sunset4All route travels through low-income and environmentally disadvantaged communities according to the state of California CalEnviroScreen metric.

Sunset4All is an initiative to transform bike and pedestrian infrastructure along a busy section of Sunset Blvd. - adding protected bike lanes, sidewalk and crosswalk improvements, greenery, shade structures and several pocket parks. The protected bike lane can be created by moving the bike lane to the inside of the parking lane. This change will help more people feel safe biking and also encourage more people to use the bike lane instead of riding on the sidewalks. The creation of the protected bike lanes can be accomplished while removing very little parking and no car travel lanes on Sunset Blvd.
As we prepare to host the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, transforming these sections of Sunset and Santa Monica Boulevards into "complete streets" would not only capture attention citywide, statewide, and nationally, but also serve as a model for other communities. If this can be achieved on the most famous "car-centric" boulevards in the country, it could inspire similar transformations in cities across the nation.

Sunset4All will have an immediate and lasting impact on improving LA’s low-stress bike network and our City Ratings score by transforming the streetscape of Sunset Blvd into a people centered corridor that will improve the safety of the road for bicyclists, pedestrians, transit riders and drivers. The Sunset4All project itself will transform one of the city’s busiest corridors into an active transportation model that can be emulated across the county. Improvements on thiis section of Sunset will help connect some of LA’s iconic venues- including Griffith Observatory, Dodger Stadium and Union Station- and would be an active transportation asset not only for locals, but for anyone across the county who visits this area for events, shopping, nightlife or recreation. Sunset4All appeals to a broad cross section of local residents, activists and professionals whose interests include transportation justice, public health and safety and environmental justice.