The Expo Bike Path is a rail with trail

bicycle path A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. ...

and pedestrian route in

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that travels roughly parallel to the

Los Angeles Metro Rail The Los Angeles Metro Rail is an urban rail transit system serving Los Angeles County, California, United States, consisting of six lines: four light rail lines (the A, C, E and K lines) and two rapid transit lines (the B and D lines), ...

's E Line between and stations. The Expo Bike Path is one of two major bicycle routes in Los Angeles that share dedicated rights-of-way with

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

, the other being the G Line Bikeway in the

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. The Santa Monica Air Line used the right-of-way from 1909 to 1953. The track was last used for freight in 1988; the county transportation agency bought the route from the

Southern Pacific Transportation Company The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

in 1991.

Rails-to-trails A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corridor with active railways, ligh ...

advocacy groups quickly began agitating for a bike route along the Exposition corridor, with one 1992 ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' 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.” Twenty years later, in 2012, the first section of the Expo Bike Path opened to the public. The Expo Bike Path connects to the Ballona Creek Bike Path (and

Park to Playa Trail The Park to Playa Trail in Los Angeles County, California is a pedestrian and bicycle route that connects the Baldwin Hills (mountain range), Baldwin Hills parklands to the Pacific Ocean (''Playa'' is ''beach'' in Spanish language, Spanish). Acc ...

) at National Boulevard in Culver City. The connection between the two paths is at the Bike Path Bridge over

Ballona Creek Ballona Creek (pronunciation: "Bah-yo-nuh" or "Buy-yo-nah" ) is an channelized stream in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, that was once a "year-round river lined with sycamores and willows". The urban watercourse be ...

; 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. Between the new and old road bridges, a historic

Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned Public transport, mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electr ...

rail bridge remains intact but fenced off and unused.

Route

* Eastern trailhead coordinates: * Western trailhead coordinates:

Eastern segment (aka Phase I)

Source: * Trailhead: * Trailhead: , specifically Platform Park at Washington and National under the track * Distance: * Route: This section is largely a Class III bike route (bicycles share a main road with a car traffic), but there is short separated bike path segment between La Cienega/Jefferson station and the western terminus. There is a dogleg turn on Harcourt Avenue between the stretch on Jefferson Boulevard. and the section on La Cienega Boulevard. There is an eastbound crossing of the train tracks at South Gramercy Place. Just before the western end of the Phase I/eastern segment of the Expo Bike Path, there is access to the Ballona Creek Bike Path which continues six miles west to the ocean, connecting to the Marvin Braude Bike Trail.

Central segment

* Trailhead: * Trailhead: , Exposition Boulevard and Palms Boulevard northeast corner * Distance: * Notes: Separated from traffic except at crossings

Western segment (aka Phase II)

Source: * Trailhead: , corner of Selby Avenue and Exposition Blvd. * Trailhead: * Distance: * Notes: Separated from traffic except at crossings “There are good bikeway connections in the area, but people unfamiliar with the vicinity would be well served by ignageto the beach, the Michigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway (MANGo),

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, and other destinations.”

Gaps

There are two intervals lacking either clear on-street navigation or a separated route.

Culver Junction gap

Source: * Trailhead: National Boulevard and Wesley Avenue * Trailhead: Behind Venice Crossroads shopping center * Distance:

Northvale gap

Sources: * Trailhead: * Trailhead: * Route: Northvale Avenue and Overland Avenue or National Boulevard and Westwood Boulevard, passing under

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...

* Distance: * Notes: ''A plan to close the gap and connect the central and western segments is approved and funded; completion is expected by 2025.''

Access

Dedicated parking lots for “park and ride” commuters are available at , , , , and stations.

Points of interest

The origin point of the western segment includes the Westwood Neighborhood Greenway, a

linear park A linear park is a type of park that is significantly longer than it is wide. These linear parks are strips of public land running along canals, rivers, streams, defensive walls, electrical lines, or highways and Esplanade, shorelines. Examples o ...

completed 2020, that “daylights” the Brown Canyon Creek that had been funneled underground since 1958. The Greenway was built on a railroad right-of-way that was not otherwise occupied by the train tracks or bike route. 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.

Notes

References

External links

Los Angeles Bikeway Map (Metro.net) - HTML

Los Angeles Bikeway Map (Metro.net) - PDF hosted on Dropbox

Heal the Bay: City to the Sea/Expo Line scavenger hunt/points of interest (PDF)

Westwood Neighborhood Greenway

YouTube video of the route from Santa Monica to Culver City, via helmet cam (2016)

Helpful transportation engineer critique of Phase 1 design
{{Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Bikeway Bike paths in Los Angeles Rail trails in California Parks in Los Angeles County, California Transportation in Culver City, California Santa Monica, California 2012 establishments in California