What's L.A.'s best small transportation story of 2022? Vote now

Like many cyclists who have attempted to navigate L.A.'s dangerous streets, you may have browsed through our last transportation poll and wondered "where are the bike lanes?" Unlike the wide roads of the City of Los Angeles, we had a good reason for not including them.

This year saw big steps forward for a number of regional transportation projects that boast nine-figure price tags, and it just doesn't seem fair to lump a bike lane into the same category as a high-speed rail line. So this time, we're breaking it in two.

Check below to vote on L.A.'s best "small" transportation project of 2022 - be it a bike lane, a bus priority lane, or some combination of the two. And if we missed your first choice, let us know in the comments section. Voting closes on Monday, December 26.

Baldwin Park's Commuter Bikeway Baldwin Park broke ground this year on two projects which will bring new open space and active transportation options to its residents - the Big Dalton Wash Greenway and its new "Commuter" bikeway. The latter project, which will run 2.5 miles along the east side of the San Gabriel River, is named as such because it would connect to a Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, a UPS Customer Center, and In-n-Out Burger's corporate offices. It will be accompanied by benches, bicycle racks, and water fountains.

Frank Gehry's L.A. River plans in action This past year, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors adopted a new master plan for the Los Angeles River, with design input from famed architect Frank Gehry. The "kit of parts" included in that master plan has already been put to work, with construction beginning in November for the Gehry-designed Headwaters Pavilion, which will create a new entrance to the Los Angeles River Greenway in Canoga Park. Included in the project are public art, restrooms, picnic tables, bike racks, and a drinking fountain.

Bus-only lanes in the Valley Recent years have seen Metro and LADOT bring curbside bus lanes to a number of busy corridors in the Los Angeles basin - 2022 saw those plans extend to the north side of the Santa Monica Mountains. A mix of bus-only and bus priority lanes are proposed for a 5.5-mile segment of Sepulveda Boulevard between Sherman Oaks and Panorama City, as well as a roughly .9-mile stretch of Ventura Boulevard. That could be a boon for roughly 12,000 daily passengers on the Metro 234 bus, who could get from Point A to Point B 15 percent faster.

Venice Boulevard getting a multi-modal makeover Crews recently started the process of repaving portions of Venice Boulevard between National Boulevard in Palms and Lincoln Boulevard in Venice. And with the fresh asphalt will come new bus and bike lanes. Bus-only lanes will run for most of a 2.5-mile stretch between Inglewood and Culver Boulevards, with a brief segment of mixed-flow operations between Sepulveda and Sawtelle Boulevards to deal with 405 traffic. Likewise, existing bike lanes along Venice between Lincoln and National are being upgraded into protected bike lanes.

Western Our Way In South Los Angeles, LADOT recently secured state grant funding to remake a 4.5-mile section of Western Avenue between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Century Boulevard - a corridor which as part of the city's "High Injury Network." Plans call for adding continental crosswalks, curb bulb outs, new traffic signals, protected left turn signals, and other safety features along the corridor.

Florence Avenue bus priority lanes With the A, J, and K Lines up and running, plus street-running buses on numerous corridors, South L.A. has many options for traveling north to south. While east-to-west may be a more challenging proposition, plans to implement bus priority lines on Florence Avenue could offer an appealing option. The 5.4-mile segment of Florence slated for the peak hour lanes starts at West Boulevard in the west (next to the K Line's Fairview Heights Station) and would terminate next to the A Line's Florence Station in the east.

A different L.A. River bridge While all eyes were on the $588-million Sixth Street Viaduct, another L.A. River crossing also made its debut this year four miles to the north. The SPF:architects-designed Taylor Yard Bridge, which connects Atwater Village and Glassell Park, was inspired by classic railway bridges, and is difficult to miss with its safety orange paint.

7th Street gets its long-awaited facelift Seven years after the plan was announced, the City of L.A. finally broke ground this year on a $18.7-million makeover of the 7th Street corridor in Downtown. Spanning one mile between Figueroa and San Pedro Streets, the project will upgrade existing bike lanes with raised concrete medians, while also adding new street trees and furniture.

Skid Row doubles down on bike lanes It's a bit of a late entry (it's literally the focus of the previous story we published!), but the City of Los Angeles has announced plans to add new protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and other safety features along San Pedro Street through Downtown. And it cuts out a vehicle slip lane at 8th and San Pedro to make a new public plaza.