Ballona Creek Bike Path

Ballona Creek Bike Path is one of several southern California bike routes (including the Rio Hondo Bike Path and the Santa Ana River Trail) that are immediately adjacent to local watercourses. While the eastern segment of the route “isn’t particularly scenic” it remains “popular with bicycle commuters and local residents.” The bicycle path passes just south of the Baldwin Hills parklands (accessible via the Park to Playa Trail), winds east through Culver City and the Del Rey neighborhood, and ends between Ballona Wetlands and the Marina del Rey sailboat harbor, where "there are unique views of the Westwood and Century City skyscrapers from the levee, as well as a peek into the [portion of the] Ballona Wetlands to the south." The "beautiful floodplain" Ballona Creek Bike Path was the number-one location for bicycle use out of 63 locations surveyed for the most recent “LADOT Walk & Bike Count.” The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) documented a rate of approximately 400 users per hour along Ballona Creek Bike Path on a weekend day. Approximately three million Angelenos live within three miles (5 km) of the route. Airport People who would like to bicycle to Los Angeles International Airport can use Ballona Creek Bike Path. Those amenable to a hill climb can exit Ballona Creek Bike Path from the Sawtelle Boulevard gate and head south, turn right at McDonald Street, left at Mesmer Avenue, which crosses Jefferson Boulevard and then continues to a Y-shaped intersection with Centinela Avenue. Two streetlights further south is Sepulveda, which offers a bike lane, a marked elevation rise up the Westchester Bluffs and an straightforward route to the entrance of LAX. A similar route with less car traffic is available by connecting with Playa Vista’s Bluff Creek trail up into the residential area of Westchester and thence to LAX. ==Conditions==

The path is completely separate from car traffic, with “rapid-fire ups and downs at the street underpasses” (elsewhere described as “long stretches of wall-to-wall cement landscape” Pedestrian paths alongside the Culver Unified campus, Mar Vista Gardens, and Milton Street Park are made of decomposed granite. Overgrown bougainvillea and untrimmed trees occasionally encroach on the path. A handful of minor storm-drain outlets flow into the creek across the bike path rather than under it, “leaking yellow-green across the street.” Cyclists heading west in the afternoon may encounter headwinds. Night lighting of the path is incidental or non-existent, however, “Increased lighting desired by some bike commuters would constitute light pollution for [Ballona wildlife] habitats.” There have been cases of "siphoning electricity from nearby power boxes", which poses a number of hazards. ==Access gates==

Ballona Creek Bike Path can be accessed from several streets adjacent to the trail. All Ballona Creek Bike Path gates are locked during significant rainstorms due to the risk of low-lying areas of the route being flooded and the dangers of fast-rushing water and debris. All gates are on the north bank of the creek unless otherwise specified. ==History==

La Ballona was channelized and the banks cemented by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beginning in 1935, in order to prevent flooding and allow more extensive development of the surrounding land. A December 1969 Los Angeles Times report about plans for the bike path was headlined: “Culver City seeks outside funds; Commission to authorize study of La Ballona Creek bike trail”; the article noted the need for safety fencing among other improvements. The route was legally created in the 1970s as the result of a “recreation agreement” between adjacent cities and the County flood control district. Circa 1971, the initial bikeway was just “five-eighths of a mile long” (1 km), between Sepulveda Blvd. and Overland Ave. In 1973, the Culver City council was asked to approve an extension east from Overland to La Salle Avenue, bringing the total length to a full mile (1.6 km). A 1974 newspaper article about the successful launch of the Beach Bike Path described the full-length project as “still in the conceptual stage” but outlined the planned intersection of the two routes at the Marina and intention for Culver City’s McManus Park to be the eastern terminus. A major five-mile (8 km) expansion of the bikeway to its current extent took place 1979–1980 under a legal framework and funding agreement between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the county of Los Angeles, the city of Los Angeles and Culver City. All four entities contributed to the construction budget. The path was described as “uncrowded” and the scenery a “bore” in a 1985 bicycle touring guidebook, which noted that “the trail’s unfortunate termination point [was] a particularly dreary segment of National Boulevard.” The authors of Bicycle Rides: Los Angeles & Orange Counties (1987) found the route “Lightly used, generally by [recreational cyclists] who are adding extra miles to the South Bay Bike Trail. In 1989, the Los Angeles Times reported on a series of muggings along the path. In a later story on crime on various bike paths throughout the Southland, the paper stated that “strong-arm bike theft” appeared to be the most common form of violent crime along the path at that time, although a liquor-store employee was shot and killed along the bike path at 4:30 a.m. in July 1990. Advocacy group Ballona Creek Renaissance was established in 1995; the group was initially focused on painting murals as a beautification effort. The connecting Expo Bike Path, which runs between downtown Santa Monica and USC, was completed in 2016. Ballona Creek Bike Path is a little more than half the total distance of the Park to Playa Trail, which was completed in 2020 and links the Baldwin Hills parklands to the seashore. ==Improvements==

Sculpted metal gates that depict the wildlife of the estuary, created by artists Brett Goldstone and Lucy Blake-Elahi, have been installed at certain entrances to the bike path, replacing older chain-link fencing. Artist Lindsay Carron and Culver City High School students have painted murals along the route depicting the history and ecology of the Ballona watershed. Circa a 2003 assessment, “Less than one percent of the plant cover observed along the Ballona Creek could be classified as native species.” • Cleveland sage and California sycamores were planted at Milton Street Park, a linear park and “green street” completed in 2018. Planned infrastructure improvements include a new bike-path access ramp with the Higuera Street bridge replacement; opening is scheduled for December 2022. ==Proposed extensions==

Local advocates for active transportation have suggested extending the bike path inland, to the eastern end of the creek in the Mid-City neighborhood. The hypothetical "Mid-City Greenway" or "Mid-City Ballona District" would incorporate existing infrastructure like planting beds built in 1974, while adding new stormwater infrastructure, micro-mobility access, and wayfinding markers. The existing greenway infrastructure is on the south side of the creek, while rest of the bike path is on the north side, so a bridge connecting the banks would possibly be built at Smiley Drive (just east of where the Adams Channel tributary enters Ballona). Infrastructure obstacles to connecting the existing bike path with the Mid-City Greenway include a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power facility and a CalTrans maintenance yard. Community meetings about extending the bike path began in autumn 2023. As of July 2025, the extension is gaining momentum and has been fully funded by CTC (California Transportation Commission) ==Gallery==